Nguyen Ha Trang, from Manila, Philippines, did not register to Vietnam to avoid Covid-19 despite being stuck from mid-March, until he received a certificate of an open heart valve.

Trang, 23, came to Manila from the end of last year to work.

Half a month later, a rapidly rising case forced officials to enforce a nationwide blockade to prevent Covid-19 from spreading.

Monitoring daily information, Trang realized that the disease was getting more and more complicated, while the medical infrastructure in Manila was not guaranteed so it was quite worried.

Therefore, Trang accepts to stay in Manila and take preventive measures.

At the dorm, Trang shares a room with some other people.

When searching for information on how to avoid translation for Vietnamese in the Philippines, Trang joined a group on a social network, with about 4,000 members, of which about 1,600 expressed their desire to return to the Vietnamese Embassy in the Philippines.

In early June, the Philippines relaxed the blockade when the number of cases showed signs of decreasing, Trang also went back to work.

On July 31, the Philippines recorded more than 4,000 cases a day, the highest increase in Southeast Asia for the second day in a row.

Due to poor health, Trang now stops working and does not receive any support from the company, outside her place of residence.

Some Vietnamese in the Philippines said they were considering a plan to buy commercial airline tickets from the Philippines to Cambodia, then return to Vietnam by road, at a cost of about VND 100 million and 28 days of isolation.

"I am looking forward to coming back to Vietnam to have my heart checked and treated soon. The epidemic situation in Manila is serious, so I don't dare to go to the hospital for medical examination and health monitoring," Trang said.