310 Vietnamese citizens repatriated from 10 EU nations

The Vietnam Airlines VN2 flight that landed at Noi Bai International Airport included children, students, the elderly and sick, pregnant women, guest workers whose labor contracts had expired and tourists with expired visas.

The citizens were stuck in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Latvia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Portugal, and the Czech Republic as nations hard hit by the pandemic closed their borders and imposed stringent travel restrictions.

The Vietnam Airlines flight took on passengers from Stockholm International Airport in Sweden and Helsinki International Airport in Finland.

All passengers underwent medical checks before boarding and wore face masks throughout the flight. They submitted health declarations and were quarantined on arrival. Their samples have been taken for testing.

Europe has so far recorded over two million infections and over 178,000 deaths, with Russia having the highest number of infections at nearly 458,000.

In the last few months, several special flights have repatriated thousands of Vietnamese from several countries including Canada, France, Japan, Russia, the UAE and the U.S., alongside other Southeast Asian hotspots. Passengers paid their own fares.

So far, Vietnam has repatriated over 5,000 Vietnamese people stranded abroad.

Officials have warned that the risk of community infection in Vietnam remains high as more foreign specialists, highly skilled workers and Vietnamese citizens stranded overseas are allowed to enter Vietnam.

The latest infection case in Vietnam confirmed Saturday morning is a 22-year-old student returning from the U.K. on a repatriation flight that landed at Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat Airport Thursday, raising the country’s Covid-19 tally to 329.

Saturday morning also marked the 51st day that Vietnam has gone without community transmission of the novel coronavirus. With 307 patients having recovered, there are 22 active patients in the country.

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected 213 countries and territories, with more than 397,400 deaths reported.