At Dallas airport (Photo: travelandleisure.com)

Earlier, a group of nearly 40 Vietnamese, including students, were stuck at Dallas airport because their flight to Vietnam via Japan’s Narita was cancelled.

As of March 22 evening (local time), nearly 30 in the group had their route changed with transits in San Francisco and Hong Kong (China).

Twelve students are waiting at Dallas airport and will fly tomorrow.

As many countries and territories have shut down international and transit flights, the Foreign Ministry called on Vietnamese citizens abroad to refrain from travels between countries and to Vietnam in current time, except cases of force majeure, as well as follow guidance and update regulations in the host countries and airlines, ensure enough documentation to take flights, especially medical certificates if needed.

For further assistance, citizens could visit official websites of Vietnamese representative agencies abroad, or citizen protection hotline of the Foreign Ministry’s Consular Department +84.981.84.84.84.

The Vietnamese Embassy in Australia also urged Vietnamese citizens to stay calm, not to panic but protect themselves from the epidemic.

Further information could be found on the website www.vietnamembassy.org.au, www.lanhsuvietnam.gov.vn, www.facebook.com/thongtinchinhphu, or phone numbers 0466 401 665, 02 616 94916, 02 616 94915, and 02 616 94917.

Nearly 300,000 Vietnamese are living and working in Australia, about 20,000 of them students.

The same day, the Vietnamese Embassy in Thailand also issued the second announcement urging Vietnamese citizens to seriously follow epidemic prevention measures in the host country.

In cases of necessity, those who want to return home should register on the official website of the embassy. It will later consider the possibility of arranging a commercial flight.