Supermarket shelves will empty again within weeks

...unless pingdemic’s tackled

SUPERMARKET shelves will go empty again in the next two to three weeks unless action to tackle the pingdemic is stepped up, the Government has been warned.

Ministers will hold emergency talks today to hammer out plans to more than double to 2,000 the number of critical workplaces where staff can undergo daily tests to avoid isolating.

Drivers of passenger trains are expected to be among the latest workers exempted from quarantine rules as rail companies begin sweeping cancellations from today. Binmen are also expected to receive assistance.

The Government announced last week that it would set up testing facilities at 500 food distribution sites, 100 transport hubs and 100 emergency services bases.

But last night experts warned the action was not enough and there was criticism that only a handful of the sites are up and running.

richard Burnett, chief executive of the road Haulage Association, warned that gaps on supermarket shelves are about to get worse as ministers are ‘burying their heads in the sand’. He said: ‘We already have a shortage of around 100,000 HGV drivers and the pingdemic is just exacerbating the problem.

‘In the next two to three weeks we are facing a collapse of the supply chain meaning even bigger gaps on supermarket shelves.

‘We already have hauliers unable to move goods on a daily basis and we’re now facing a perfect storm.’

Speaking on radio 4’s Broadcasting House programme, he added: ‘This is a crisis on a scale we have never seen before in this industry and the Government is burying its head in the sand. It is not recognising the seriousness.’

Tony Danker, director-general of the Confederation of British Industry, said: ‘Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of businesses have been in touch with us to describe scenarios where the scale of people self-isolating – testing negative by the way but self-isolating – is so big that they are basically bringing core operations to a close.

‘Through the front door we’ve said let’s reopen the economy and through the back door we have closed it down.’

Policing minister Kit Malthouse yesterday apologised for delays at the border after travellers complained about ‘total chaos’ at airports. He suggested some airline staff could be exempted from quarantine, alongside border officials.

Mr Malthouse also told Times radio he acknowledged the ‘challenge’ officers are facing as Metropolitan Police Federation chairman Ken Marsh said 17 per cent of staff in the capital were off last week.

reduced timetables are being introduced from today on railways after a spate of last-minute cancellations due to staff self-isolating.

Northern, Avanti West Coast, Great Western railway and Govia Thameslink are among operators cutting services for up to six weeks.

It comes as a hospital trust took to social media to issue an urgent appeal for nurses to work the night shift. Belfast Health Trust said that royal Victoria and Mater Hospital were under ‘extreme pressure’, amid a rising number of staff absences due to the pandemic and a surge in coronavirus patients.

Figures last week showed more than 600,000 people had been pinged by the NHS Covid app in seven days.

‘Burying its head in the sand’