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* British minister: We're concerned about 'pingdemic'
* Meat industry says food supplies could fail
* Iceland chain closes some stores due to staff shortages
* BP says some sites temporarily closed due to lack of fuel
(Adds Asda comment)
By Guy Faulconbridge and James Davey
LONDON, July 22 (Reuters) - British supermarkets said on
Thursday that some products were in short supply and petrol
stations had been forced to close after the official health app
told hundreds of thousands of workers to isolate following
contact with someone with COVID-19.
British newspapers carried front-page pictures of empty
shelves in supermarkets, declaring a "pingdemic".
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng told Sky News the
government was "very concerned" about the situation but that he
did not recognise the network's characterisation of "bare"
supermarket shelves.
With cases rising to nearly 50,000 day in the United
Kingdom, hundreds of thousands of people have been advised - or
"pinged" - by the National Health Service's contact-tracing app
to isolate for 10 days.
The drastic reduction in staffing that has resulted has sown
chaos through sectors as diverse as food supplies, haulage,
supermarkets, hospitality, manufacturing and media. To avoid
disruption, many people have deleted the app from their phones.
Sainsbury's, Britain's second largest grocer, said
customers may not be able to find the exact product they want.
"Large quantities of products are being delivered to stores
daily and our colleagues are focused on getting them onto the
shelves as quickly as they can," a spokesperson said.
Asda, the industry's No. 3 player, said although more staff
were being forced to self-isolate the level of absences remained
well below what it saw at the height of the pandemic last year.
"We’re also not in a position where we would have to close
any stores," said a spokesperson.
Product availability was "largely OK across the board"
though some stores were short of warm weather lines – beers and
soft drinks, bottled water, ice cream and salad leaves.
But smaller rival Iceland said it had closed a number of
stores due to staff shortages. BP said it had to
temporarily close a handful of petrol stations due to a lack of
fuel, with a shortage of HGV drivers exacerbated by COVID-19
isolations.
One meat industry body said on Wednesday that food supply
chains were "right on the edge of failing" as absences related
to COVID-19 had aggravated a critical shortage of labour.
Official data showed the app had told nearly 620,000 people
to isolate in England and Wales in the week up to July 14.
Government ministers say it plays an important role in
countering the spread of the virus, which has killed about
129,000 people in Britain - the seventh highest toll in the
world. They have allowed some workers in critical roles to carry
on working, even when "pinged".
Infections have been rising sharply in Britain for several
weeks. But a vaccination programme that has seen 88% of adults
receive one vaccine dose and more than 69% two doses appears to
have weakened the link between infections and deaths, with daily
fatalities remaining relatively low.
(Writing by Guy Faulconbridge; Additional reporting by Kate
Holton and Kanishka Singh; Editing by Catherine Evans, Angus
MacSwan and Giles Elgood)
