Vietnamese officials on Wednesday thanked the Philippine government for helping arrange the flight back home of 172 young Vietnamese students from Cebu province amid the global COVID-19 outbreak.
The Vietnamese Embassy in Manila gained permission and coordinated with representatives of the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Tourism to charter a Vietnam Airlines plane that flew the students from Cebu to the southern Vietnamese city of Can Tho on Tuesday.
A Vietnamese Embassy official said the DFA and DOT representatives were “very helpful.”
Most of the students were taking English language lessons in Cebu. When Philippine officials suspended classes and most office work in northern Luzon under an Enhance Community Quarantine and some other parts of the country, the worried students asked the Vietnamese Embassy in Manila for help to be able to fly back home, officials said.
The students’ families in Vietnam also wanted them to return home amid the global pandemic, officials said.
The students, many of them wearing protective masks, had their group photos taken, some flashing the V-sign and thumb-up sign.
The Philippine government has banned the entry of most foreign nationals and extended assistance to foreign tourists and travelers who wanted to fly out of the country amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
