More than 16,000 Vietnamese nationals have been brought home since the country started repatriation flights on April 10, according to a deputy spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Vietnam continues repatring citizens

The citizens have returned from more than 50 countries on over 60 flights since the global health crisis spread and caused travel restrictions, VnExpress quoted Deputy Spokesperson Doan Khac Viet as saying.

The returnees are those in the priority list including children under 18, people with pre-existing diseases, stranded tourists, students whose schools are closed or those without dormitories, and laborers with expired visas and employment contracts, Viet said.

He added that related agencies are making efforts to bring home more citizens, including 226 people in Karshi, Uzbekistan working for a Chinese company and more than 200 nationals, including 120 people infected with the novel coronavirus in Equatorial Guinea, and those in several other countries.

The deputy spokesperson said Vietnamese missions abroad have been receiving requests for repatriation from a large number of people, noting that Vietnamese authorities are working with foreign relevant agencies to facilitate the repatriation in the spirit of “leaving no one behind.”

At the request by Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, related agencies continue working to repatriate Vietnamese citizens based on the actual pandemic evolution in Vietnam and the world as well as quarantine capacity at home.

All recent coronavirus infected cases in Vietnam are people arriving from abroad and are quarantined upon arrival.

Vietnam imposes a 14-day quarantine period for all repatriated people and they are charged no fees in concentrated establishments across the country.