‘Our only hope is the Government’ - Northampton women stranded in Saigon as all flights cancelled

Just hours after being released from quarantine in Saigon, Wendy Rodgers and Karen Voller were told their flight home had been cancelled.

The women, who are both from Northampton, had to be placed in quarantine after a crew member on their flight to Vietnam on March 9 was later diagnosed with COVID-19. The pair only enjoyed a few days of their holiday, which was a part of a solo travel group of nine people, before they were locked down in a hotel.

Yesterday morning (March 23), they were released from quarantine, where they had spent more than a week in separate hotel rooms.

The women were due to fly home with Emirates today (March 24), but the flight has been cancelled, as have a lot of flights out of Vietnam.

Wendy said: “We are out of quarantine now, so at least we can get some fresh air.

“We were booked on a flight with Emirates to come home through Dubai, but the flights have all been cancelled and all the airports are gradually just shutting down.

“We flew out here with Vietnam Airlines, but they’ve stopped all flights too.

“Hong Kong and Bangkok are stopping transits and we’re worried that if we get a flight that's leaving Vietnam we’ll just get stranded in transit.

“We can’t get out of Vietnam.”

The only hope Wendy and Karen now have of getting home is if the Government finds a way to repatriate UK nationals, of which Wendy believes there are now 800 of them in Vietnam.

She added: “Our group has all been tested for coronavirus and we’re all negative. We have a certificate to prove we are negative.

“Our tour operator has more or less said get out if you can. It’s every man for himself.

“The Government is not repatriating at the moment, but that’s our only hope of getting home.

“It’s a waiting game to see what the Government is going to do.”

The women who both work for EMW Law are able to stay in the hotel where they were quarantined for ‘as long as needed’, as it is now in lockdown with only the guests from the solo trip group and the staff inside.

Wendy added: “We’re okay in this hotel. They have been fabulous, but you just want to come home when you want to come home.

“It’s hard. A lot of people have said you’re better off there as it’s crazy in the UK, but we just want to be at home.

“You can deal with home crazy better than you can with south east Asia crazy.”

Although the Government is not currently bringing home UK nationals from Vietnam, foreign secretary Dominic Rabb has acknowledged that Vietnam along with Morocco and Peru are the main reparation focuses.

He said last week that he was working with other countries to see if special flights could be commissioned to bring UK nationals home.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign and Commonwealth office added: “We recognise that any British people currently overseas may be nervous about the impact of coronavirus on their travel and their health.

“We are in close contact with travel providers and our international partners to provide support to those British people affected by ongoing measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.”