COVID-19: Nearly 540 Vietnamese citizens safely repatriated from overseas

Vietnam Airlines on July 22-24 conducted two special flights to bring home nearly 540 Vietnamese citizens left stranded in Cuba and many African and European countries due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vietnamese citizens are repatriated from African and European countries

The flights were jointly arranged by various Vietnamese authorities, Vietnamese representative agencies in Africa, Cuba, France, Germany, Vietnam Airlines, and competent authorities of the host nations.

The majority of passengers on board the aircraft were minors under 18, students who had already completed their academic year, the elderly people, people with underlying illness, holidaymakers, and workers with expired visas

All of them had been left stranded in Ivory Coast, Algeria, Morocco, Nigeria, Egypt, Senegal, Lebanon, Tanzania, Guinea, and Europe.

Due to national and international travel restrictions, Vietnamese representative agencies in African countries, Cuba, France and Germany were active in collaborating with relevant agencies of the host nations to prepare necessary procedures and support citizens in their travel from locations to airports.

Vietnamese representative agencies dispatched officials to the airports to assist citizens with all necessary steps before they boarded the aircraft.  

A range of strict preventive measures were enforced throughout the duration of the journey. After landing at Da Nang and Van Don airports in central and northern Vietnam, all crew members and passengers had their body temperature checked and were immediately placed into quarantine in line with regulations.

Following instructions from Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Vietnamese agencies, Vietnamese representative agencies abroad, and domestic airlines will continue to conduct more similar flights to bring home Vietnamese citizens from abroad.

VOV