The passengers landed in Van Don Airport in the northern province of Quang Ninh, before receiving health checks and being sent to quarantine camps.

They included people working in France, more than 100 students and 60 tourists who were stranded there, some for weeks.

There were 19 children under 14 years of age, 30 people aged over 60 and two pregnant women. There was a family from Germany that needed to return to Vietnam immediately since a relative was being treated for cancer.

On the way to France on Tuesday, the Vietnam Airlines plane carried medical equipment gifted by Vietnamese government.

France is the fourth worst affected Covid-19 country in Europe after Spain, Italy and the U.K. with over 170,500 cases and more than 25,500 deaths.

Since mid-April Vietnam has been working with countries like the U.K., Italy, Canada, and Japan to organize flights to bring its citizens home following the suspension of commercial flights.

Vietnam has suspended all international flights from March 25.

Its Covid-19 tally so far is 271, with 232 patients recovering and 39 getting treatment now. The country has gone 20 days without community transmission as of Wednesday.