UK ‘pingdemic’ leads to supermarket shortages

UK ‘pingdemic’ leads to supermarket shortages

LONDON: British supermarkets and suppliers warned Thursday of possible food shortages due to staff self-isolating, as rising coronavirus cases threaten chaos after the government controversially eased all restrictions earlier this week.

With millions of workers and school children currently forced to stay home under COVID-19 tracing rules "” in what has been dubbed a "pingdemic" after the phone app used to contact, or ping, people who need to self-isolate "” various industries are starting to suffer. Newspapers showed photographs of empty supermarket shelves, as missing staff at stores and in supply chains hit retailer's operations "” with some even closing outlets.

"We've kept all of our shops open throughout the pandemic, but now we have had to close one or two shops and reduce hours in others," Richard Walker, managing director of frozen food retailer Iceland, told BBC radio. "That could get a lot worse a lot quicker, unless the country's system is sorted out."

Rod McKenzie, managing director of policy at the Road Haulage Association (RHA), said the UK was already struggling with a shortage of lorry drivers due to Brexit and that isolation issues were now "a recipe for chaos".

'Grinding to a halt'

The government on Monday eased all virus curbs, including