Vietnam has planned to operate six more repatriation flights from May 23 to June 3 to bring its citizens home in the course of rising global coronavirus infections that have hit more than 5.2 million.

The repatriation flights will take off from the Netherlands, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and New Zealand, local media cited Dinh Viet Thang, head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV).

On May 23, a flight has departed the Netherlands and will make a stopover in Paris to pick up more Vietnamese citizens. It is set to land at Ho Chi Minh City on May 24.

On May 25, another flight by national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines will be operated from Tokyo to repatriate 343 citizens to Hanoi.

On May 27, the carrier will help 300 citizens from South Korea fly home. It’s scheduled to arrive in Danang on the same day.

On May 29, as many as 343 citizens will be repatriated from Taiwan on flight VN579 to land in Danang.

On May 31, flight VN650 from Singapore will bring home 300 citizens. Passengers will land in the southern city of Can Tho.

On June 1, flight VN68 by Vietnam Airlines will bring home more than 340 citizens from Auckland, New Zealand, and Sydney, Australia and arrive in Ho Chi Minh City on June 2.

Vietnam steps up repatriating citizens from ASEAN countries

Over the last two weeks, Vietnam has intensified the repatriation of its citizens from ASEAN countries including Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines, and Malaysia.

The latest repatriation flight took place on May 21 by VietJet Air, bringing 240 citizens home from Myanmar, according to Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Earlier on May 18, Vietnam Airlines repatriated nearly 300 citizens from Thailand.

On May 14, nearly 190 Vietnamese citizens were brought home from the Philippines on a flight by Bamboo Airways.

On May 10, Vietnam Airlines helped more than 270 citizens fly home from Malaysia.

Vietnam has halted the entry of visitors from ASEAN from March 18.

Earlier, Vietnam repatriated citizens from EU, the UK, the US, Canada, among others.

Vietnam has been repatriating its citizens worldwide under an order by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. The repatriation is based on the evolution of the pandemic, the country’s capacity to quarantine returning people and people’s demand.

A list of priority has been given to the elderly, the sick, people with underlying diseases, students without accommodation, workers and visitors with expired visa, and those under special cases.

All passengers underwent heath checks and were placed in quarantine upon arrival in different parts of Vietnam.Hanoitimes

Anh Kiet