A total number of 2,220 Vietnamese citizens were brought home from the U.S., Singapore, UAE, India, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Angola and Myanmar from December 6-13, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As many as 2,220 Vietnamese nationals from nine countries
are repatriated from December 7-13, 2020

The passengers included children under 18 years old, the elderly, the sick, stranded tourists, students who completed their courses and could not have their visas extended, businessmen, intellectuals and other disadvantaged cases.

Precautious measures were implemented during these flights to prevent transmission of COVID-19.

Right after landing at local airports, all the passengers received check-ups and were sent to concentrated quarantine sites in line with current regulations on COVID-19 responses.

So far, Viet Nam has arranged 224 "rescue" flights to repatriate 61,552 citizens stranded abroad due to COVID-19.

The repatriation of Vietnamese citizens in disadvantaged circumstances abroad will continue to be conducted in line with their wishes, the developments of the COVID-19 pandemic, and quarantine capacity in Viet Nam.

Regarding COVID-19 vaccine research and development, Viet Nam started recruiting volunteers for the first phase of human trials in Ha Noi on December 10.

The vaccine is developed by the Nanogen Pharmaceutical Biotechnology company, one of four local vaccine producers.

The volunteers will be injected with the first dose of the vaccine on December 17 and the second dose 28 days later, according to the health ministry.

As of December 13, Viet Nam confirmed 1,397 COVID-19 infection cases, including 1,241 recoveries and 35 fatalities.

The country has gone 12 days without recording new community infection case./.