Coronavirus UK: Supermarkets across Britain at risk of disruption amid COVID-19 outbreak
CORONAVIRUS spreading across the UK could cause supermarkets in the country to lose up to "20 percent of staff members" and affect operations, British Retail Consortium's Andrew Opie warned.
Coronavirus: Expert warns about ‘problem’ for supermarkets
Three people have died and 278 have been infected with coronavirus in the UK in the past month, sparking panic in the country and resulting in people rushing to supermarkets to stockpile food and other consumer goods. Supermarkets have been forced to ration toilet paper after costumers began stockpiling amid the worsening outbreak. Andrew Opie from the British Retail Consortium's Andrew Opie warned shoppers may face further disruption should the Government go ahead and shut down schools to strop the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
Asked whether closing down schools could affect supermarket operations, Mr Opie told the Today programme: "The problem is it will exacerbate the problems that we might see anyway.
"We’re already gearing up for a massive challenge of losing 20 percent, potentially at the peak, of colleagues in store.
"That’s a challenge we can face up to but we also need to manage the absence of people who might be carers so there’s a decision for government."
Mr Opie said the consortium remains in close contact with the Government to ensure the COVID-19 outbreak does not spiral out of control when it comes to ensuring Britons have access to food and other goods.
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He continued: "We’ve been pushing with Government a number of things. First of all, think about deliveries - deliveries are key to a supermarket. So think about delivery curfews, think about possibly driving out to make the most of the deliveries we’ve got.
"Think very carefully about the process and the policy we follow. Closure of schools could be a real problem for supermarkets because of the number of colleagues in store who are also carers.
"The final thing we’re looking at are things like regulations, how can we maybe get some relation on regulations – nothing to do with food safety, just things like labelling issues where you might need to move sourcing around.
"Anything to make it easier to get the food that we need on the shelves."
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Officials urged Britons to think ahead but said panic-buying should be avoided.
Public Health England urged members of the public to "plan ahead" for if they had to self-isolate for a couple of weeks.
However, the Government's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance said there is "absolutely no reason" for the British public to panic buy.
Tesco has almost entirely sold out of dried pasta online and has now introduced a five limit number on several items, including anti-bacterial wipes, gels, and long-life milk.
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No other supermarket has resorted to rationing food, however the majority are now limiting anti-bacterial gels to two per customer - or have sold out entirely.
Aldi customers can buy one packet of toilet rolls per person after shelves were emptied within minutes of opening and Asda is restricting some types of hand sanitiser to two bottles each.
Waitrose has not imposed shop rationing but has put a “temporary cap” on some products online, including anti-bacterial soaps and wipes. Sainsbury’s said it was not limiting purchases.
Meanwhile some people were trying to cash in on the black market, selling hand sanitiser gel on Amazon and eBay for up to 10 times the original price.
Bottles worth 49p were on sale for £24.99 and one eBay listing saw a three-quarters-full used bottle of liquid soap offered for more than £5.