People working in the food supply chain will not need to self-isolate if they have been ‘pinged’ by the NHS Covid-19 app, amid growing fears of food shortages due to a lack of available staff.
Workers, regardless of their vaccination status, will be able to test themselves for Covid-19 daily instead of isolating.
The new daily contact testing measures begin at 15 supermarket depots, followed by 150 depots next week.
The exemption applies to supermarket depot workers and food manufacturers, but not shop floor staff.
Environment secretary George Eustice told BBC Breakfast that including shop floor staff would have been a “really significant undertaking”.
“You’re talking then thousands of different shops and many more people and we still want to maintain the test, trace and isolate system,” he said, adding that the government would keep the policy under review.
Earlier supermarket chain Iceland said it had been forced to shut some stores because 1,000 staff had been asked to self-isolate by the NHS Covid-19 app. Empty shelves across multiple supermarket chains have also been reported.
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A record 618,903 people in England and Wales were told to self-isolate by the NHS Covid app between 8 and 15 July.
A survey by CV-Library found that four in 10 workers know someone who has been unable to work due to self-isolation since all Covid-19 restrictions were lifted on Monday. Seventy per cent of those asked to isolate were notified by the Covid-19 app, the survey of 1,300 people found.
Unions and business bodies have criticised the government’s handling of the food supply situation, which has been exacerbated by a shortage of HGV drivers.
“Allowing frontline workers such as lorry drivers not to self-isolate if pinged may alleviate short-term supermarket supply issues but it will do nothing to reduce infection rates,” said Matt Draper, national officer for drivers and warehouse staff at Unite.
“What is needed is clear leadership from the government which includes workers needing to be paid properly to self-isolate, masks need to be made mandatory once again on public transport, retail and hospitality venues and an urgent u-turn on the decision to end the supply of free tests to employers.”
Tony Danker, director-general at the CBI, urged the government to bring forward the date by which all those who have received both Covid-19 jabs no longer have to self-isolate if not infectious, and by introducing a “test to release” scheme.
“Ultimately, the country needs a new settlement for our society if we are to confidently live with the virus. It’s not just about the next three weeks, but the next 6-12 months – come what may in the winter ahead,” he said.
Hannah Essex, co-executive director of the British Chambers of Commerce, echoed the call for wider “test to release” programmes.
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“Pilot schemes for ‘test to release’ options have been running for some time now and we would urge the government to immediately bring forward the results of those test schemes and set out how this could be used to enable more double vaccinated people to avoid self-isolation beyond this narrow group of critical workers,” she said.
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