South Korea sends response teams to repatriate 276 citizens quarantined in Vietnam

South Korea on Thursday sent three “rapid response” teams to Vietnam to help 276 citizens who are quarantined in Vietnam as per the Vietnamese government’s regulations on combating the new coronavirus.

Each rapid response team, which consists of four members, mostly from the foreign ministry and the National Police Agency, will be dispatched to three areas of responsibility of the South Korean Embassy in Hanoi and Consulate Generals in Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang.

A representative of the teams to Vietnam. Photo: Yonhap News Agency

Upon arrival, the teams will provide consular support for 276 citizens who have been isolated at military barracks, health care facilities or hotels Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang as South Korea’s coronavirus caseload approached 6,000 and death roll hit 35 on March 5, according to Yonhap News Agency.

According to South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the teams will talk to Vietnam about the lifting of the quarantine program for citizens who are already in Vietnam or will arrive there and support those who want to return home.

The teams plan to stay in Vietnam for one week for now, but they could later decide to extend their stay, the ministry said.

“We will make our best efforts to help the Korean nationals in quarantine if they want to return to Korea or face any difficulties,” Kyun Jong-ho, the chief of the rapid response teams, told reporters at Incheon International Airport.

Vietnam has banned from February 29 the entry of people who are from and have traveled in the last two weeks to South Korea’s southeastern city of Daegu and North Gyeongsang province while those from other parts of this Eastern Asia’s country undergo a mandatory 14-day quarantine.

Currently, 96 countries and territories are imposing entry restrictions or tougher quarantine procedures for Koreans.

In China, there are also roughly 850 South Koreans in quarantine.