F&B establishments in Ho Chi Minh City are now allowed to offer site-down services until 10:00 pm, as well as selling beer and alcohol, on a trial basis.

The trial phase will last until the end of November, according to a document issued by the municipal People’s Committee on Wednesday evening.

During this period, all eateries in the city must meet all of the safety criteria promulgated by the municipal steering committee for COVID-19 prevention and control.

They are allowed to offer dine-in services until 10:00 pm daily.

In areas at low and medium risk of infection, known officially as levels 1 and 2, F&B establishments are permitted to operate at 100 percent of capacity and serve alcoholic beverages.

In areas at high risk, or level 3, eateries must operate at only 50 percent of capacity and are not allowed to serve beer and alcohol.

Dine-in services are banned in areas at very high risk, or level 4.

As of Wednesday morning, only Can Gio District was classified as level 3, while the remaining districts and Thu Duc City were at levels 1 or 2.

Residents can check the corresponding risk level of each ward and district using the interactive map operated by the municipal Department of Information and Communications via https://bando.tphcm.gov.vn/ogis/thongke?Province=79.

Authorities in every district and Thu Duc City are tasked with assessing the result of the pilot phase before submitting further proposals to the municipal administration and the Department of Industry and Trade.

Ho Chi Minh City has been the hardest-hit locality in Vietnam since the fourth virus wave began on April 27, with more than 451,000 infections.

The city had imposed various levels of social distancing since May 31 before loosening restrictions in October when it announced that the overwhelming majority of its adult population had been vaccinated.

F&B establishments were permitted to offer sit-down services from October 28, but had to operate at only 50 percent of capacity and close before 9:00 pm.

Only eateries in Thu Duc City and District 7 were allowed to serve alcoholic beverages on a trial basis between October 28 and November 15.

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