The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on July 8 it has asked the Vietnamese Embassy in Angola to verify 213 Vietnamese workers in distress in Equatorial Guinea due to COVID-19 and seek to repatriate them back to Vietnam.

Vietnam Airlines has been assigned to arrange flights
to bring home Vietnamese citizens 

The workers are working for Sendje hydropower plant in the Republic of Equatorial Guinea under labour contracts between Duglas Alliance Ltd of the UK and two Vietnamese companies, CMVIETNAM and LILAMA 10.

In a report to the Vietnamese Embassy in Angola, both CMVIETNAM and LILAMA 10 said in the context of the complex nature of the COVID-19 pandemic in Africa, they had worked with the general contractor and local health agencies to strictly take preventive measures, including testing and quarantining suspect cases, to ensure Vietnamese workers’ safety.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested the Vietnamese Embassy in Angola to verify, keep in close touch, and guide the citizens with necessary prevention measures. It also asked the representative diplomatic mission to work closely with relevant companies and local authorities to protect the health of Vietnamese citizens and create favorable conditions for them to return home at an earliest possible time.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that amid the complex development of COVID-19 globally, Vietnamese representative agencies abroad give top priority to citizen protection, while keeping in regular contact with the overseas Vietnamese community, answering the citizens’ questions concerning changes in the immigration policy of Vietnam and the host country, and requesting local authorities to take care of unfortunate cases of infection.

Under the Prime Minister’s instructions, Vietnamese agencies, Vietnamese representative agencies abroad and domestic airlines will continue to conduct flights to bring overseas Vietnamese citizens stranded overseas back to Vietnam.

To date 51 repatriation flights have been conducted, bringing home more than 12,000 such citizens. All returnees are placed in quarantine for medical surveillance according to regulations on COVID-19 prevention and control.