A deserted street in New York during COVID-19 pandemic (Source: Xinhua/VNA) Hanoi, (VNA) – The Vietnamese Embassy in the US istaking measures to support Vietnamese citizens amid concern about complicateddevelopments of the COVID-19 epidemic in the US and new regulations of manycountries, including Vietnam, regarding entry-exit and aviation transport.
The embassy has worked with Vietnam’s general consulates in Houston and SanFrancisco and the Vietnamese mission in New York to raise awareness amongstudents about the need to avoid travelling back to Vietnam at this moment soas to reduce the risk of contracting disease and overloading of medical service in the home country.
The embassy set up three hotlines and four email addresses,which operate around the clock seven days a week to provide information andhelp regarding documents and procedures for Vietnamese citizens.
The embassy has coordinated with the general consulates in Houstonand San Francisco to help nearly 40 students who were stuck at Dallas airport(Texas) after their flights were cancelled.
The embassy has posted on its website guidance on COVID-19 withregularly updated information on the disease and new pandemic-related policies and rules of Vietnam and the host country, along with warning against possible risks.
The embassy has coordinated with associations of Vietnamese youthand students in the US to help Vietnamese students seek new accommodations whentheir schools close down, and raise support for the students.
At the same time, the embassy on March 25 published anelectronic form for those who want to return to Vietnam to collect informationon the need to report to the home country for consideration.
Regarding to reports that a number of crew members on the US’saircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt tested positive for SARS-CoV- 2 after thevessel visited Vietnam, Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Ha Kim Ngoc said when thecarrier docked at Da Nang port and during the visit, both the Vietnamese and USsides had worked together to implement diseasepreventive measures. The visit was a success, contributing to deepening theVietnam-US comprehensive partnership and maintaining peace, stability andstability in the region.
The ambassador made clear thatduring and after the Vietnam visit, the US carrier received many flights of US military, therefore the process of investigation is still underway with no conclusion yet on the cause and source of infection of the COVID-19cases on the carrier.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday told the press that he thinks it would be difficult to tie down these activecases to the Da Nang port visit. “We’ve had aircraft flying to and from theship, and so we just don’t want to say it was that particular port visit. Wetook great precautions when that crew came back from that shore period to doenhanced medical screening of the crew,” Gilday told reporters last week./.
