Beer drinking in Hanoi raises toast in special way for Covid-19 prevention
Amid the COVID-19 fears, beer drinkers in Hanoi can now toast one another by clinking glasses under a transparent shield erected in table instead of the normal way.
According to Euromonitor, beer consumption in Vietnam is forecast to grow 5% per year until 2022.
Beer is a beverage accounting for more than 90% of the alcohol consumption in Vietnam. Each year, Vietnam has about more than 1 million people of legal drinking age (18 years old). That is the basis for Euromonitor to believe that it is very potential for this market to grow in the coming years.
According to Nielsen's consumer confidence index, Vietnamese consumers are among the top 5 most optimistic globally. While according to Heineken Vietnam, urban consumers consume 1.6 times more beer than rural consumers basing per capita. Meanwhile, urban residents still account for only 36% of the total population in Vietnam, this proportion is currently steadily increasing by about 50 bps per year.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic has changed almost habits and life styles occuring normally. The administration of Hanoi has ordered all local restaurants and coffee shops to put social distancing regulations in place as part of COVID-19 prevention efforts.
In compliance with the Hanoi People's Committee's regulations on epidemic prevention, a number of restaurants and pubs in the city have installed mobile mica partitions, and at the same time, distancing seats. Therefore, people drinking beer in Hanoi have the opportunity to experience the feeling of new style for drinking beer safely amid the Covid-19 situtation.
From midnight August 19, bars and restaurants must arrange seats at least one metre apart from each other.
Self-made partitions are designed with 2 floors with a top barrier made of mica and a gap below so that customers can hold glasses together.
The owner also arranges the tables far from each other to ensure a distance of the epidemic room
Diners swing their glasses and pick up the food through the gap below the mica partition.
When there are customers, the staff quickly lists the partitions.
At another pub on Lang Street, the tables are spaced, ensuring a minimum distance of 1m as prescribed.
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