Vietnam repatriated 344 of its citizens from S’pore like this on Sunday

(Mothership) – A Vietnam Airlines flight repatriated 344 Vietnamese citizens from Singapore on Sunday, May 31, as the Covid-19 pandemic has not been curbed in the city-state.

Those on board included pregnant women, the elderly, youth under 18, people suffering illnesses, and workers or tourists whose visas had expired, according to a Vietnam Foreign Ministry release.

Passengers paid their own fares. Flight VN650 flight landed at the Mekong Delta’s Can Tho airport in the afternoon. This was the second repatriation flight from Singapore. The first on April 24 brought home over 200 Vietnamese citizens.

After making their health declarations, all passengers were taken to centralized quarantine facilities in Can Tho City and the neighboring provinces of Hau Giang and Vinh Long, where they will be tested for the novel coronavirus.

Special flights still operating

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 United States, and other Southeast Asian countries.

Vietnam has gone 45 days without community transmission of Covid-19.

It has reported 328 infections without any deaths, of whom 279 have recovered, leaving just 49 cases active.

Experts have warned that the risk of community infection in Vietnam remains high.

This is due to more foreign specialists, highly skilled workers, and Vietnamese citizens stranded overseas being allowed to enter Vietnam in the coming days.

Vietnamese media’s characterization of Singapore

According to Vietnamese media’s characterization of Singapore’s Covid-19 situation, the island has been described as “the Southeast Asian nation hit hardest by Covid-19, with over 34,000 infections and 23 deaths”.

The Vietnamese English news report also mentioned that the vast majority of the cases in Singapore are work permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories.