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Vietnamese citizens waiting to check in a flight home at Minsk's airport. Photos: Vietnamese Embassy in Belarus

Nearly 280 Vietnamese citizens in coronavirus-hit Russia and Belarus were repatriated on a flight that landed at Van Don International Airport in the northern province of Quang Ninh on July 17.

They include children under 18, pregnant women, people with illnesses, workers with expired visas or labour contracts, and students without accommodation due to coronavirus-induced school and dormitory closures.

Due to facing complicated developments caused by the recent epidemic with limited international travel, the Vietnamese Embassies in Russia and Belarus were active in collaborating with functional agencies to prepare necessary procedures and support citizens in their travel from other locations to Moscow and Minsk.

The two embassies therefore dispatched officials to the airports in an effort to assist citizens with all necessary steps before boarding the flight.

Disease prevention measures had been carried out during the flight. Upon landing at Van Don airport, the passengers received health check-ups and were sent to quarantine centres in line with regulations.

A range of strict preventive measures were enforced throughout the duration of the journey.

Following instructions from Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Vietnamese agencies, Vietnamese representative agencies abroad, and domestic airlines will continue to conduct more flights to bring home Vietnamese citizens from abroad on the basis of pandemic developments, overseas citizens’ aspirations, and local quarantine capacity.

From April 10 to July 16, Vietnam organised 55 flights bringing 13,323 citizens home from overseas in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Le Thi Thu Hang.

Vietnam has gone through more than three months without any community transmissions, VNA citied the National Steering Committee for COVID-19 Prevention and Control.

The committee’s Treatment Subcommittee said that as of 6am on July 18, Vietnam recorded a total 382 people infected with SARS-CoV-2, of whom 357 fully recovered or 93.5 percent. There is no death from the disease.

The remaining 25 patients are being treated in health facilities in stable condition, with five tested negative once and four at least twice.

The 382nd patient is a 64-year-old Russian expert who landed at Tan Son Nhat international airport in Ho Chi Minh City on July 11.

As many as 10,133 people who had close contact with patients or entered from epidemic-hit areas are being quarantined, including 78 at hospitals, 9,613 in other concentrated quarantine establishments and 442 at home.

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