VN brings home 1,700 nationals stranded abroad due to COVID-19 last week

The passengers onboard these flights included children under 18, pregnant women, the elderly, workers whose labor contracts had expired, students with no residences due to dormitory shutdown and other with especially difficult circumstances.

Precautious measures were implemented during these flights to prevent transmission of COVID-19.

Right after arriving at local airports, all the passengers received check-ups and were sent to concentrated quarantine sites in line with current regulations on COVID-19 responses.

From April 10 to November 8, local agencies coordinated with Viet Nam’s representative agencies overseas to launch 185 flights, bringing home about 52,982 Vietnamese citizens stranded abroad due to COVID-19.

In the time to come, more repatriation flights will be arranged to bring Vietnamese citizens home.

As of 6:05 am on November 9, Viet Nam confirmed 1,213 COVID-19 cases, including 1,070 recoveries and 35 fatalities, said the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control led by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam.

As the pandemic remains complicated around the world with total infection cases surpassing 50 million, including more than 1.25 million deaths, Viet Nam still closes borders to foreign tourists and maintains vigilance as the winter nears.

In a bid to pursue the dual goal of COVID-19 containment and economic recovery, the Government in September decided to resume international commercial flights to to four destinations, namely Tokyo (Japan), Guangzhou (China), Taiwan (China), Seoul (the Republic of Korea), Phnom Penh (Cambodia) and Vientiane (Laos).

On November 11, Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh urged localities, especially Ha Noi, Can Tho and HCMC to increase paid quarantine capacity to meet growing demand from incoming travellers.

Pay-to-stay quarantine areas are designated hotels and other accommodation facilities for Vietnamese and foreigners from abroad.

Local authorities are requested to coordinate with the Ministry of Health and other relevant ministries to manage quarantine work in a safe and effective manner./.

By Thuy Dung