A number of countries, namely Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, and Vietnam have started evacuating their citizens as cases of COVID-19 in the country continue to soar.
The government of Saudi Arabia has brought home its citizens infected with COVID-19 from Indonesia. As quoted in Arab News, the transfer was carried out by the Defence Ministry’s Air Medical Evacuation Department under the direction of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The air medical evacuation plane covered 18 hours of air travel without transit and brought more than twice the usual aircrew to handle the cases. All precautionary measures against coronavirus were taken on the long flight transporting infected people to Saudi Arabia.
Meanwhile, around 90 Taiwanese citizens are preparing to leave Indonesia temporarily. They plan to order a charter plane which is scheduled to transport them out of Indonesia on 28th July 2021.
Quoted from Focus Taiwan, a travel agency is planning to charter flights using Batik Air to transport dozens of Taiwanese citizens back to their home country. However, the travel agent is currently waiting for a minimum of 100 passengers to show interest.
“Considering the worsening pandemic situation in Indonesia, the Taiwan chambers of commerce in Jakarta, Central Java, Bali, Surabaya, and East Java have all advised their senior members to return to Taiwan,“
said Kuo Chang-hsin, Head of the Service Centre set up by the Taiwan Indonesian Chamber of Commerce (ITCC).
Moreover, Vietnam plans to evacuate its citizens from Indonesia. The Vietnamese Embassy in Jakarta claims to be coordinating with relevant agencies to prepare a number of flights that would take Vietnamese citizens home with priority status.
“Only citizens who are in the priority category and have an important need to return to their home country will register and are responsible for the contents of the registration,” the Vietnamese embassy said in an official statement, as quoted on its website.
In an effort to continue counting the number of Vietnamese citizens who are in the priority category in Indonesia, the Embassy recommends that they register information using the online form by 23rd July.
The Vietnamese Ambassador in Jakarta, Pham Vinh Quang, the Secretary of the Vietnamese Embassy, Trinh Thi Thuy Van, and the Public Relations of the Vietnamese Embassy have not responded to the request for comment.