About 540 Vietnamese citizens stranded in the United States and Europe owing to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic were brought home on Friday and Saturday and quarantined upon arrival.

These passengers include children under the age of 18, the elderly, sick people, pregnant women, graduate students, stranded tourists, and people whose visas had expired but could not leave the countries, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

Among them, more than 340 returned from multiple states in the U.S., with their flight taking off from Washington DC and landing at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi.

Passengers and crew members of the flight were brought to a local quarantine camp and had their health monitored following their arrival in the capital.

Nearly 200 other Vietnamese citizens were repatriated from several European nations.

The flight stopped at Frankfurt International Airport in Germany and Madrid Barajas International Airport in Spain for the passengers to board.

Vietnamese citizens queue for check-in at an airport in Spain before boarding their flight back to Vietnam. Photo: Vietnam News Agency

After landing at Da Nang International Airport in the namesake central city, the passengers and cabin crew members were provided with medical checkups and required to undergo a mandatory 14-day isolation period.

The embassies of Vietnam in the U.S. and European countries had closely cooperated with local authorities to help the Vietnamese nationals complete all required procedures and make their journey home safely.

Vietnam will continue arranging flights to bring home its citizens in the coming time, depending on the pandemic situation, the country’s quarantine capacity, and the demand for repatriation of Vietnamese citizens in foreign countries.

The number of COVID-19 patients in Vietnam is at 318 as of Sunday morning, with 260 having recovered. No death from the disease has been reported.

No infection in the community has been confirmed in the country in the past 31 days.

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