Vietnamese restaurant is selling coronavirus-shaped burgers during pandemic panic

‘We have this joke that if you are scared of something, you should eat it,’ says Hoang Tung, who owns a takeaway shop in downtown Hanoi

There are now 148 recorded cases of the virus in Vietnam, but no reported deaths, according to the health ministry

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A burger shaped as the coronavirus at a restaurant in Hanoi, Vietnam. Photo: Reuters

Published: 2:06pm, 26 Mar 2020Updated: 3:12pm, 26 Mar 2020

You’ve got to eat it, to beat it: That’s the philosophy of one Hanoi chef who is attempting to boost morale in the Vietnamese capital by selling green, coronavirus-themed burgers.

Laughing in the face of the global pandemic, Chef Hoang Tung and his team now spend their days moulding dozens of green-tea stained burger buns complete with little “crowns” made of dough to resemble microscopic images of the virus.

“We have this joke that if you are scared of something, you should eat it,” said Tung, at the Pizza Home takeaway shop in downtown Hanoi. “That’s why the coronavirus isn’t scary any more after you eat a burger in the shape of the virus itself. That way of thinking spreads joy to others during this pandemic.”

Restaurant owner Hoang Tung holds up a corona burger. Photo: AP

The shop has sold about 50 burgers a day, despite the growing numbers of businesses in Vietnam which have been forced to close because of the virus.

In mid-February, Vietnam said all known 16 Covid-19 cases at the time had recovered, but that changed after an influx of overseas visitors and returning Vietnamese citizens brought an uptick in cases.