HCMC eateries on first deliveries after Covid suspension

At 7:30 a.m., a pho restaurant on Phan Van Tri Street, Binh Thanh District sells takeaways. This is one in a few restaurants on the street opening Thursday morning, as local authorities allowed eateries to resume delivery services from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.daily after suspending them for nearly two months.
Ho Chi Minh City previously halted food and drink takeaways from July 9 when imposing a lockdown under Directive 16, which requires residents to stay at home and only go out for basic necessities like buying food or medicines or seek medical treatment, to work at factories or public offices that are allowed to open, or in case of funerals, fire or other disasters.

The restaurant owner places a table at the front door to stop people from entering.
"The first day, I don’t have many ingredients, buyers are also neighbors and shippers, so I sell only 100 bowls of pho, which is less than a half the number I sold in the past," said Loi, the owner.
The eateries can only sell takeaways and use online delivery services. Their staff need to have received at least one vaccination dose and must test negative for the novel coronavirus every two days. Local authorities will make sure these eateries meet Covid-19 prevention requirements.

In a hu tiu restaurant on No Trang Long Street, Linh, the owner is busying herself with cooking.
"After learning the city would allow restaurantsto make deliveries last night, I ordered some pork and bone, enough to cook 50 bowls of hu tiu. Most patrons are people taking care of patients at Oncology Hospital."

"I take care of a patient in the hospital, and have survived on banh mi and rice recently. Learning eateries could make deliveries, I came here to have something for breakfast," said Tri, one of the first patrons in Linh’s hu tiu restaurant this morning.

A banh mi restaurant on Le Quang Dinh Street attracts a lot of customers. According to the owner, his restaurant made 22,000 banh mi per day before the lockdown, but now production is halved.
"I will increase production and sell banh mi with pork and eggs soon," said Tam, the owner.

Inside, staff prepare freshly baked banh mi for their clients, many of them buying up to ten each.

Hoang (R) buys seven banh mi for his family.
"Most of the time we have banh mi, because it is convenient and cheap," said the 45-year-old.

A pho restaurant on Bui Bang Doan Street in District 7 starts its day at 3:30 a.m. In the 30-meter-square kitchen, four people are busy cutting beef, cooking soup, preparing noodles, and packaging.
"Many suppliers have not resumed working, so we sell what we have," said 31-year-old cook Vuong Dai Tam. He added they do not have enough beef and herbs this morning.

An employee gives food to a delivery worker, next to bottles of hand sanitizer and alcohol at the door.

A bakery on District 1’s Hai Ba Trung Street sells cakes, banh mi, sticky rice and meat loaf, attracting locals. According to staff, they still sold food to soldiers, Covid-19 prevention forces and charitable organizations during the lockdown.
"We have more customers today, because they know they can come here and buy food," they said.
HCMC has also allowed supermarkets, grocery stores and pharmacies to open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day. The city has recorded over 273,000 Covid-19 cases since the end of April, including 7,300 confirmed Wednesday.