Ho Chi Minh City has allowed food and drink service providers to operate again, only offering takeout, after around two months of suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a dispatch issued on Tuesday afternoon, the municipal People’s Committee permitted caterers to sell takeaways to customers from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm every day starting Wednesday.

Also allowed to operate for such 12 hours per day are postal and telecommunications service providers, office informatics equipment establishments, and stationers.

These businesses had been banned since July 9.

Catering service providers must register their resumption with local authorities to obtain travel passes for their relevant staff, who are required to have got at least one coronavirus vaccine shot and to be tested for COVID-19 every two days.

They must also operate under the 'three-on-the-spot' model in compliance with all strict epidemic prevention measures, meaning employers must arrange for their staff to work, have meals, and rest at the workplace only.

Supermarkets, convenience stores, food shops, and delivery workers are allowed to re-operate for a longer duration, from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm every day, within the districts where they are located, the dispatch said.

Also on the resumption list are producers and traders of herbal materials, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment and supplies.  

The administration of District 7 and Cu Chi District are required to prepare their pilot plans for locals to go to the market once every week and submit them to the municipal authorities for consideration by Saturday, according to the dispatch.

Local authorities have set up specific points for commodity gathering and transit at the largest wholesale markets of Binh Dien and Hoc Mon, which have been shut down since July 6 and June 28, respectively.

On July 13, a similar point was set up at the Thu Duc wholesale market.

The city has documented 273,674 COVID-19 cases including 11,206 deaths since the pandemic hit Vietnam in early 2020, topping the country in both infections and the death toll, the Ministry of Health reported on Wednesday evening.

Nationwide, there have been 563,676 coronavirus patients with 325,647 recoveries and 14,135 fatalities.

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