“I physically feel great—I have felt great for many, many days,” Kornfeld told ABC. “Emotionally, I feel wonderful. It’s nice to be negative for hantavirus.”
Evacuation complete
Overall, there have been 10 cases: Seven cases who became ill on the ship, one case that disembarked the ship on April 24, before the outbreak was identified, and fell ill in Switzerland. The remaining two cases—one from France, the other from Spain—were identified as the ship was evacuated and passengers were being repatriated. The number of deaths has not changed since May 2, with three total: a Dutch couple and a German woman.
Also in the WHO press conference, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that the operation in the Canary Islands to safely evacuate the ship is complete. The operation involved transferring the ship’s 120-plus passengers to their home countries or to quarantine in host countries en route to their final destinations.
“Because of the long incubation period of up to six weeks, more cases may be reported in coming days as passengers return to their countries, where they are being quarantined and tested in specialized facilities or at home,” Tedros warned. “This does not mean the outbreak is expanding; it shows that the control measures are working, that laboratory testing is ongoing, and that people are being cared for with support from their governments.”
The US is monitoring 41 people who may have been exposed. That includes 18 passengers (including Kornfeld) who were evacuated from the Hondius, passengers who had disembarked the ship on April 24, and people who shared a flight with a Dutch woman (the wife of the first case) who also fell ill from the infection and died in South Africa, on her way home.