Apart from the pregnant women, there were some elderly passengers, young children and a seriously ill patient, authorities said.

The Vietnam Airlines flight VN579, organized specially to repatriate Vietnamese citizens, landed at the Da Nang International Airport at 4:40 p.m.

All passengers had undergone medical checks before boarding and wore face masks throughout the flight. They submitted health declarations and were transferred to quarantine facilities in the central province of Quang Nam on arrival. Their samples have been taken for testing.

According to Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center, it was the first repatriation of Vietnamese from Taiwan since Vietnam suspended all international flights on March 22.

One of the repatriated passengers is suffering from pancreatic cancer. The passenger will be transferred to a local hospital for isolation and cancer treatment, said Tran Van Kiem, director of Quang Nam Center for Disease Control.

Nguyen Duc Hoang, deputy director of Thang Binh District’s medical center, said some of the 243 pregnant women on the flight were near their due dates. Therefore, the center has prepared emergency ambulances and set up an obstetrics emergency team in case they give birth in the quarantine area.

On the way to Taiwan, the flight carried a number of Taiwanese citizens and Vietnamese with Taiwan residency who had been stranded in Vietnam.

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., and other Southeast Asian countries. Passengers paid their own fares.

Vietnam has gone 43 days without community transmission of Covid-19. Of the 328 infections recorded so far, 49 are active, the rest having recovered. There has been no death recorded so far.

Taiwan has confirmed 442 infection cases and reported seven deaths.