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THOUSANDS of food sector workers will be exempted from selfisolation if they come into contact with a Covid-19 case, a minister said last Friday (23), after staff shortages led to empty supermarket shelves.
As coronavirus cases once again soar in the UK, many sectors are complaining of a “pingdemic” – a reference to notifications from the phone app telling users they have come into contact with an infected person and need to self-isolate.
The rules have forced swathes of staff to stay home, causing major disruptions in key sectors.
More than 10,000 workers in several sectors, including supermarket depots, dairy factories and bread manufacturing sites will now be exempt from rules requiring self-isolation, environment secretary George Eustice told Sky News. “We need to make sure that we maintain our food supply,” Eustice said.
The government opted to exempt food sector workers after seeing rising absence rates, the minister said.
Newspapers splashed photographs
of empty supermarket shelves on their front pages last Thursday (21) as fears rose of delays in the food supply chain.
The government said in a statement late last Thursday that the measures were set to be rolled out from this week.
Workers will automatically be allowed to keep working at 500 key sites even if they are “pinged” by the app. They will be required to take daily tests at their workplace instead.
The UK has seen a surge in cases fuelled by the highly contagious Delta variant in recent weeks, but opted to lift most virus restrictions in England last Monday (19). Last Saturday (24), daily cases hit 54,000, the highest since January, though they have since declined.
The requirement to self-isolate for 10 days after being notified of contact with a virus case is expected to remain in place at least until August 16.