The children, all aged under two, were among 375 people repatriated by special flights that landed at the Can Tho Airport in southern Vietnam last Saturday, the Vietnam News Agency reported.

Their parents, working in South Korea, were forced by financial difficulties to send them to Vietnam with acquaintances.

Upon landing, the toddlers were sent to military-run facilities in Bac Lieu Town, the capital of the Mekong Delta province, for the mandated 14-day quarantine. To ensure adequate care for the children, provincial authorities have allowed their relatives to enter the quarantine facilities.

The province's steering committee for Covid-19 prevention and control said the children were "special cases" because relatives of quarantined people are not allowed to enter quarantine facilities under current regulations.

Vietnam suspended all inbound international commercial flights in March 2020. The government has been operating repatriation flights to bring home Vietnamese citizens stuck abroad amid the pandemic, and has allowed special flights to carry foreign experts and investors into the country.

In late January, the government limited inbound flights in light of new variants of the novel coronavirus spreading fast in many countries. Only special cases approved by the government can enter the country now.