The 69-year-old Dutch woman boarded a KLM flight from Johannesburg to Amsterdam on April 25, but the crew decided not to take the woman on board due to her health condition. The woman died a day later in a hospital in South Africa.
The stewardess was on that flight and, according to the GGD Kennemerland, had ‘intensive contact’ with the woman.
Once back in the Netherlands, the stewardess taken to the Amsterdam UMC with mild complaints. There she had to go into isolation while waiting for the test results.
The GGD does not want to say for privacy reasons what this negative result means for the flight attendant and whether she can be released from isolation.
388 people on board
A total of 388 people were on board the flight. The GGD is investigating the flight and says it distinguishes between three groups.
The first group are people who have had intensive contact with the Dutch. According to the health service, these are five people and they will be ‘intensively monitored’ until June 1. The time between contracting the hantavirus and becoming ill is six weeks. According to a spokesperson, there is daily contact with them about any complaints.
The other two groups are people who sat in the same row or the two rows in front of or behind her. They must monitor their complaints until June 1 and must contact their local GGD if they have any complaints.
The third group, the other passengers in places further down the plane, are not at risk, according to the GGD.
