Over 670 Vietnamese repatriated from Canada, Africa and Middle East

The passengers included children, students, the elderly and sick, pregnant women, guest workers whose labor contracts had expired and tourists with expired visas.

National carrier Vietnam Airlines brought home 343 citizens from Canada to Hanoi; Bamboo Airways carried 266 from Kuwait, Qatar and Egypt to Ho Chi Minh City; and South African Airways flew 69 from South Africa, Mozambique and Eswatini to Hanoi.

The Vietnam Airlines flight was the third to repatriate citizens from Canada, the previous two doing so last month.

All passengers have been sent to quarantine camps for 14 days where they will be tested repeatedly for the new coronavirus.

In the last few months, several special flights organized by the government have repatriated thousands of Vietnamese from several countries including France, India, Japan, Russia, the UAE and the U.S., as also other Southeast Asian countries. Passengers have paid their own fares.

More of such repatriation flights are expected to keep bringing Vietnamese citizens wanting to return home to avoid facing the Covid-19 pandemic elsewhere.

As of Tuesday, Vietnam has gone 61 days without community transmission of the Covid-19 virus. Of the 334 infections recorded in the country so far, 325 have recovered and there are only nine active cases left.

There has been no death recorded in the country so far.