People line up for the COVID-19 vaccine at a stadium in Guwahati, India, April 22, 2021. — XINHUA/VNA Photo

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam has kept a close watch on the COVID-19 situation in India and is willing to support the Government and people during these hard times, spokesperson for the foreign ministry Lê Thị Thu Hằng said.

In reply to reporters' query on the COVID-19 situation in India and citizen protection measures of Vietnamese citizens living there, Hằng said that the Vietnamese Embassy in India said the pandemic was developing complicatedly and causing negative impacts to the lives of locals.

The Government of India was mobilising resources and rolling out measures to respond to the pandemic such as increasing medical equipment and medicine and speeding up COVID-19 vaccinations, she said.

“We believe that with efforts by the Indian Government, the situation will soon be controlled and become stable,” Hang stated.

Regarding the protection of Vietnamese citizens living, studying and working in India, Hằng said that Việt Nam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and representative agencies in India had worked closely with authorised agencies at home and in the host country as well as airlines to organise flights to bring nearly 1,000 Vietnamese citizens home safely.

Currently, there are about 100 Vietnamese citizens in India. Vietnamese representative agencies in India are coordinating closely with authorised agencies at home and in India to keep a close watch on the pandemic, maintain a contact channel with the Vietnamese citizens and to be ready to conduct necessary citizen protection measures.

In case of seeking support or report information on Vietnamese facing difficulties, citizens can contact the embassy via its citizen protection hotline at +91-7303-625-588 or the citizen protection switchboard at +84-981-848-484. — VNS