Vietnam Airlines staff apologize in chorus after Covid-19 community transmissions

Since December 2, a host of Vietnam Airlines flight attendants have posted the #WeApologize hashtag, saying sorry on behalf of their colleague, "patient 1342," who violated quarantine rules and spread the novel coronavirus to the community.

"What happened was unexpected, our colleague was wrong, and we apologize on his behalf," a female flight attendant said on her Facebook page.

Promising to strictly follow the rules and not cause any similar incidents in future, many also expressed the hope people will stop criticizing and even abusing them on social networks and in real life.

"We have been worried at work as some of our colleagues have been discriminated against and abused. I want to repeat we are sorry for what happened," another flight attendant wrote on Facebook.

A flight attendant posts on his Facebook page, using the #WeApologize hashtag on December 2, 2020.

Previously, local news said verbal abuse and ostracism were reported by Vietnam Airlines staff. On December 3, a stranger attacked an attendant with a burning cigarette while the uniformed victim was waiting at a red light.

These posts from Vietnam Airlines flight attendants have attracted attention from netizens, who have shown encouragement and support, hoping the staff would overcome the upheaval soon.

Under Covid-19 prevention protocols, flight crews must isolate themselves on returning to Vietnam. But the flight attendant, "patient 1342," who returned to Vietnam from Japan on November 14 and entered quarantined for four days at a facility managed by Vietnam Airlines in HCMC's Tan Binh District, went to another quarantine area and contracted the virus from a crew member who had returned from Romania.

Vietnam Airlines staff on a flight during the Covid-19 pandemic. Photo by Tien Phong Newspaper.

After two tests showed he was negative for the coronavirus, he was let go but told to isolate himself at home.

But he came into contact with his mother and two friends, including an English language teacher who stayed with him for a few days.

On November 29, 15 days after he returned from Japan, he tested positive for the virus, and the next day the teacher did too. The latter had meanwhile spread the virus to a nephew and a student of his.

On December 3, local police said the flight attendant could be charged with "spreading dangerous infectious diseases to humans."

Vietnam has recorded 1,358 Covid-19 cases so far, 119 still active. Thirty-five have succumbed to the disease, many of them elderly with underlying conditions like diabetes or kidney failure.