Twenty-three extended family members have been sent home from a centralized quarantine facility at a university dormitory in Thu Duc City.  

The extended family whose members live next door to each other in Binh Chieu Ward of Thu Duc City were allowed to leave a student dormitory of Vietnam National University, HCMC on Monday after finishing their 21-day quarantine.

Five of the total 28 members have yet to complete the mandated three-week period of isolation.

Nguyen Van Ty, 50, said the entire family, including several nuclear groups, had left the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang to do manual labor in Ho Chi Minh City four years ago.

"Early one morning, we woke to find the entire boarding house placed under lockdown and medics preparing us for centralized quarantine after a Covid-19 case was detected among us."

Members of the big family leave centralized quarantine.

Thu Duc City is among the HCMC localities hit hardest by the current wave, with 159 cases as of Monday.

HCMC, meanwhile, is the nation’s second-most infected among all cities and provinces, with a total 3,494 cases.

"I’m so happy I get to go home today. Now that I’m back I could rejoin my friends. In the camp, I had no friends," said six-year-old Nguyen Huynh Khanh Thi.

"Doctors told us yesterday we all need to get tested once more and it will be done. The news was so great it kept us up all night. I hope the outbreak would soon be over so we could go find jobs," said Nguyen Van Thu, 32.

HCMC is applying several measures to curb Covid-19 spread, including suspending bus and taxi services, either traditional or ride-hailing ones.

The 23 people therefore had had to wait for over two hours to find transport means to return to their rented place.

Luyen, the daughter of Ty, said she would never forget her days in quarantine.

"I was extremely nervous when I first came to the camp, especially when seeing medics in protective suits and staff continuously spraying disinfectant all over the place. At night, I couldn’t sleep because of the ambulance siren. It took me a few days to get used to reality, partly because all the medics were really thoughtful," she said.

A photo Luyen took one afternoon while in quarantine. The scene "made me feel like the day had become way too long, along with a deep nostalgia," she shared.

The 23 will remain at their boarding house for seven more days of self-isolation.