In the UK, fears are growing that a so-called “pandemic” – where people are asked to go into quarantine – will cause food shortages. “We are very concerned about the situation,” Economic Affairs Minister Kwasi Kwarteng admitted, who was asked about pictures of empty shelves in the supermarket. “We are monitoring the situation.”
In the UK, hundreds of thousands of people have received a call via an official app to go into home quarantine within a week. They are seen as having been contacted by someone who tested positive for coronavirus and thus have been ‘pinged’, which means they received a notification on their phone.
The business community has already complained about staff shortages due to Brexit, and now the situation says epidemic threatens to deteriorate. According to Sky News, there are warnings that supply chains are “starting to fail” as truck drivers and people working in the meat sector are left at home.
from epidemic It dominates the front pages in the British media on Thursday. “Pingdemic Disrupts food supply in supermarkets,” the Daily Telegraph headlines. The Sun and Daily Mail open with images of empty shelves. Fear of shortages as shops hit epidemicThe Times writes.
Food sector and government
Some companies are taking matters into their own hands. Bidfood has called on “stressed” employees to come to work if the PCR test shows they are not infected. Chief Executive Andrew Seely told the BBC his employees play a vital role in the food chain.
Government services cannot escape the consequences of the pandemic either. According to Sky News, the police have already indicated that several employees have stopped working in some control rooms. As a result, it is not always possible to quickly answer phone calls. Cleveland police say staff leave has been cancelled.
not required
Britons are not legally required to go into a home quarantine for ten days if they receive a notification via the app. They don’t even have to put it on their phones. It’s just urgent advice. However, many people have responded to the call and as a result the government is under pressure to take action. The government has already decided that from August 16, fully vaccinated people will not have to self-isolate if they appear in the picture during contact quest, unless they test themselves.
