‘Pingdemic’ chaos engulfs London’s police force
The number of officers off work in Britain’s biggest police force has reached a record pandemic high due to the chaos of the pingdemic, as binmen are expected to be added to a list of workers exempt from selfisolation.
Nearly one in five officers in London’s Metropolitan Police are understood to be currently absent from duty, at a time when there is increased pressure on police forces due to the lifting of all restrictions and the return of the night-time economy.
Ministers will meet today to discuss the expansion of daily contact testing to other key sectors, with Whitehall sources indicating that bin collection services are among those expected to be raised.
Supermarket depot staff have been given access to 500 sites in response to fears of food shortages, with the critical worker list expanding on Saturday, to include train and truck drivers, police officers and border officials.
A more limited relaxation of isolation rules has been announced for 16 other sectors of the economy, including transport, emergency services, the waste and water industry.
There are believed to be between 700-900 testing sites now coming online, enabling staff in these sectors to stay at work if they are identified as a contact of someone who has Covid-19, providing they continue to produce negative lateral flow tests.
However, it is understood that Prime Minister Boris Johnson is pushing to more than double the number of sites in operation across the country to 2000, meaning more sectors can be added in the coming weeks to keep August 16 on track.
The push to keep the economy moving comes after a week in which the number of people in self-isolation after being pinged by the NHS Covid app hit a record 619,000 people.
With staff absences rocketing, supermarkets have been forced to hire thousands of temporary staff, seven rail networks are set to impose emergency timetables and energy companies have warned of delays to installing smart meters and routine appointments for repairs.
The Telegraph has also been told by two well-placed sources that 17 per cent of officers in the Metropolitan Police are off or selfisolating. The absence rate is believed to be the highest since the start of the pandemic.
Nationally the figure is about 7.3 per cent, but the soaring staff absences in the country’s biggest force is a huge cause for concern.
It is not clear how many of those who are off sick are ill or have simply been told to self-isolate after being pinged or contacted by the NHS track and trace.