The head of the British Retail Consortium has said major supermarkets are already trying to mitigate for staff shortages caused by people being contacted by the NHS Test and Trace app.
Helen Dickinson told BBC Breakfast: “Everybody I am talking to is seeing absence rates that are higher than they would normally expect.
“They are already taking mitigating actions which include changing shifts, reducing hours and, in some cases, needing to close stores.”
Ms Dickinson warned consumers could get less choice in supermarkets, face longer waits for deliveries or reduced opening hours from their local stores between now and when the rules are due to change on August 16.
“I think what the most important thing for government to do is to recognise that the current situation is untenable,” she said.
Ms Dickinson suggested rules around self-isolation could be amended for people working in food supply chains following rising levels of staff absence.
“Either those (self-isolation) rules need to change or something else in the wall of defences against the virus needs to be considered,” Helen Dickinson told BBC Breakfast.
Ms Dickinson said she was not calling for the app to be ditched but added: “I want to be really clear that the … disruption that we are already seeing will only get worse.”
She said bringing forward the date double-vaccinated people will not need to self-isolate if they come into contact with a Covid-19 case could be one solution.
“There are some pilots for tested release for businesses and people who get paid to test themselves and then released back into their workplace, those pilots could be extended or that could be a new system,” Ms Dickinson said.
