The Vietnamese Embassy in Australia announced on June 26 Vietnam Airlines will bring home an additional 343 Vietnamese citizens stranded in Australia and New Zealand due to COVID-19 in early July.

Vietnamese ambassador to Australia Ngo Huong Nam sees off Vietnamese
citizens returning home at Sydney airport on June 2 
 

The repatriation flight is scheduled to depart from Sydney, Australia, on July 3, and among the passengers are 20 citizens from New Zealand. 

According to the embassy, 343 lucky people were selected from nearly 1,700 citizens who have registered to return home this time. 

As the number of registered people exceeds the plane’s capacity, embassy staff have carefully considered specific cases, with priority given to children, elderly people, pregnant women, people with underlying illnesses and those in specially difficult circumstances, said an embassy official. 

Those who failed to return home this time will be considered for the following flights, said the official. 

Lucky citizens were recommended to buy tickets before 17.00 on June 28. 

On June 2 Vietnam Airlines conducted a special repatriation flight to bring home 344 Vietnamese citizens left stranded in Australia and New Zealand due to COVID-19.