SHOPS, pubs and restaurants including Greggs, Toby Carvery and Harvester have closed venues due to pingdemic staff shortages.
Hundreds of thousands of workers are isolating after being pinged by the NHS COVID app, bringing businesses to their knees with staffing crises.
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Greggs has had to shut a small number of stores although the closures are not long term, the Sun understands.
The bakery chain’s flexible business model allows it to move staff around easily and is reviewing the situation on a shop by shop basis, following track and trace guidelines.
Meanwhile, Mitchells & Butlers said it has seen 40 venues across all its brands, which include O’Neill’s, Harvester and Toby Carvery, forced to closed due to Test and Trace staff shortages.
A spokesperson said: “We have been forced to temporarily close a number of our venues because members of staff have been pinged by NHS Test and Trace and instructed to self-isolate.
“This pingdemic is causing a significant disruption for our business and our teams and we would urge the Government to allow team members who are double jabbed and have regular tests to continue to work, ahead of the proposed 16th August date.”
Harvester said on social media that its Clifton Moor, York branch temporarily closed this week while Toby Carvery wrote on Facebook that its Park Place branch in London had shut – although neither gave specific reasons as to why.
Pub chain Wetherspoons also warned it had a couple of hundred staff off.
It has so far not had to close any sites but in a few cases, like the Golden Lion in Rochester, some have had to reduce operating hours.
The Sun understands that the pub chain has also faced issues with food distribution but none of the menus have been affected.
Meanwhile, Greene King said it has had to close 33 pubs in the past week due to staff shortages while Young’s last week said 350 of its staff were self isolating due to COVID rules.
A spokesperson for the Federation of Wholesale Distributers told the Sun: “COVID cases and isolation notifications will rise in the coming weeks. This will mean many distribution staff being pinged and advised not to come to work, leading to challenges in delivering food to independent shops, pubs, restaurants, hotels, and hospitals, care homes and prisons and the military.
They added that this could mean hospitality businesses will not be able to meet pent up demand and convenience stores will not receive enough food to meet customer demand.
“This will be felt in remote areas where the cost of delivering product is so much higher,” they added.
It comes as Environment Secretary George Eustice revealed that the army is on standby to step in and help secure the nation’s food supplies if the Pingdemic worsens.
Ranjit Singh Boparan, of the 2 Sisters Food Group, which is one of the largest food producers in the UK, warned they are at a “crisis point” as the pingdemic hits supplies of milk and poultry.
Boparan told the Daily Mail that he predicts the “most serious food shortages that this country has seen in over 75 years”.
Meanwhile, Phil Langslow, trading director at Cheshire-based County Milk Products told the newspaper that about half their deliveries have been delayed.
“We had a long standing lorry driver shortage that’s been exacerbated by covid. Service providers have said they cannot cope,” he said.’
“Roughly half of deliveries expected to be done are not and we’re scrambling to get this done. It renders some business unviable.”
Nigel Jenny, the boss of the Fresh Produce Consortium told The Sun fresh produce is more susceptible to disruption.
“Given the nature of fresh produce, it’s highly perishable, so there’s a very short supply chain susceptible to disruption and that can have an impact quickly.”
“There’s a shortfall of staff of between 10% and 25% across the fresh produce industry, ranging from harvesting crops to production lines where goods are packaged.”
The Government on Thursday revealed that 10,000 staff in critical sectors could dodge 10 days of quarantine if their bosses get permission from ministers as they scrambled to rectify the crisis.
Those that could be exempt include workers in food and water supply, medicines and public transport.
The chaos has already hit petrol stations and supermarkets with some branches closing as disruption to supply chains causes a shortages to fuel and products.
Supermarkets are working to replenish stock quickly and are urging shoppers not to panic buy after alarming photos showed empty shelves.
Meanwhile, Iceland said it is recruiting 2,000 temporary staff to help with the shortages while the Co-op announced it will take on 3,000 extra workers.
Business leaders and trade bodies continue to call on the government to take action and change the sensitivity of the NHS app.
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Elsewhere, we take a look at the businesses which have had to close due to the pingdemic.
In just one week, more than 600,000 Brits were told to self-isolate by the NHS Covid-19 App, according to NHS figures.
Millions have been deleting the NHS Test and Trace app to avoid isolation as the Delta variant rips.
George Eustice says the govt ‘always has the option’ to call on the MoD’s contingency if supply chains are threatened by Pingdemic
