SYDNEY (AP) — Australian athletes at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro will be supplied with condoms which manufacturers say will offer “near complete” antiviral protection against the Zika virus.
The Australian Olympic Committee announced the health measure for the Aug. 5-21 Olympics in a statement Monday, with the team’s chef de mission Kitty Chiller saying distribution of the condoms was “a commonsense approach to a very serious problem we are facing in Rio.”
The mosquito-borne Zika virus is an epidemic in Central and Latin America, and the World Health Organization has declared it a global health emergency.