AFCON: Traore says Covid testing a scandal as Chelsea keeper Mendy tests positive 

Burkina Faso captain Bertrand Traore has called the testing procedures at Afcon which began Sunday a "scandal" after at least four squad members and Coach Kamou Malo tested positive in the run-up to Sunday's opener.

"It's a scandal, we cannot be deprived of first-team players 24 hours before the match," said Traore.

"The authorities must review the organization. We waited all day, at the beginning it was in the morning that we had to pass these tests, then it was postponed to the afternoon. Finally, it was during the night that we did the tests and they were not PCR tests, they were antigenic (lateral flow) tests. I think it's a scandal," said Burkina Faso captain.

Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy was among a new group of Senegal players to test positive for the coronavirus. 

Mendy, his captain Kalidou Koulibaly and striker Famara Diedhiou returned positive results on Saturday in mandatory testing for the Senegal squad 48 hours ahead of its opening game of the African Cup against Zimbabwe, the Senegal Football Federation said. 

All three will be ruled out of Monday's game unless subsequent testing proves they were false positives. Senegal, which is one of the title favorites at the African Cup, already had three other players and six members of the team management test positive for the virus before the squad departed Dakar for Cameroon on Wednesday. 

Mendy's positive test raised concerns for Senegal's star forward Sadio Mane, who flew to Dakar from Britain with Mendy on a chartered jet. Photographs showed the pair sitting close together on the flight without masks. 

Many of the 24 teams preparing to play in the month-long African Cup of Nations have been affected by virus cases in their squads, although Zimbabwe announced Sunday it had no positives in its mandatory tests. 

The tournament starts Sunday in the Cameroon capital Yaounde with the host team playing Burkina Faso in the opening game. Ethiopia faces Cape Verde in the day's other game. 

The African Cup was meant to be played in early 2021 but was postponed for a year because of the pandemic. However, it's set to go ahead a year later with virus cases surging again because of the emergence of the omicron variant. 

Gabon and Arsenal forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is among numerous other players to test positive for the virus ahead of the tournament. 

African football officials have set down tough Covid-19 rules in a bid to prevent the competition from becoming a super-spreader event, requiring teams to play even if just 11 players are available. 

President of CAF Patrice Motsepé was in Douala on Saturday for a friendly game ahead of the opening of the competition.

Motsepe took the opportunity to reassure the fans and players about the security and Covid-19 protocols put in place to prevent further spread.

"We have taken all these important measures because the lives of the players and spectators depend on it, hence these decisions on our part, health and safety are imperative, said Motsepe.

The rising Covid cases have now forced the federation to announce stricter measures and issue new policies on how the tournament will take place.

"Today we know that in the whole world we are adapting, you had to watch in Europe, many matches had to be postponed, we took the challenge of organizing with Covid, but keeping it at a good distance because, in reality, we cannot eliminate it, I am sure that the challenge will be taken up by the Cameroonian authorities and by CAF to have a CAN as safe as possible, said Augustin Senghor, the Vice-Président CAF.

A new policy by the CAF stipulates that a team will be required to play a match provided it has a minimum of 11 available squad members who have tested negative for the coronavirus.