Will YOUR bin be collected? Pingdemic causes bin collection chaos across UK - areas MAPPED
COVID cases in the UK have skyrocketed, with rates sustained at 50,000 per day and more, resulting in hundreds of thousands of self-isolation orders. Will the "pingdemic" prevent councils from collecting your bins?
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Covid cases in the UK are currently at their highest in months. The Delta variant has poked holes in the UK's vaccination programme, infecting tens of thousands of people a day. Although the vaccine has damaged the infection-death link, the NHS app is still sensitive, forcing thousands of people to self-isolate.
Will the "pingdemic" prevent the council from collecting your bin?
Covid cases in the UK have prompted a "pingdemic" of NHS Covid app self-isolation requests across the country.
Many people have treated the notifications as a nuisance, but they prove the system is working as intended.
As Covid runs rampant, it has requested thousands of potential contacts isolate, crippling some workplaces.
READ MORE: Covid app chaos as record 618,903 alerts sent to Britons last week
Public services are among them, including waste collection.
Several areas across England have suffered amid the flurry of self-isolation requests, meaning some people will have seen their bins go uncollected.
Numerous councils have reported interruptions owing to members of staff receiving NHS app "pings".
A growing number of councils have signalled difficulties providing the same level of service during the latest surge of infections.
The following councils have signalled a "pingdemic" impact on their services:
- Lancashire
- Coventry
- Liverpool
- Bristol
- Norfolk
- Sandwell
- Milton Keynes
- Northampton
- Oxfordshire
- Berkshire
- Stockton
- Doncaster
- Solihull
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Doncaster council has said it is among the worst affected by the pings.
Council leaders have had to suspend green bin collections while the staff shortage persists.
Green bins cover garden waste, and the suspension comes into effect from June 26.
A council spokesman told the Doncaster Free Press the move would allow staff to focus on "maintaining its statutory refuse and recycling collection services."
The spokesman added it relies on contractor SUEZ, which has had a "significant number" of staff out due to self-isolation rules.
They couldn't rely on agency workers due to another national shortage of HGV drivers.
The country owes its HGV shortages to a myriad of interlinking factors.
Both Brexit and the pandemic are partly to blame, with many EU-based drivers returning home.
Industry leaders have petitioned transport minister Grant Shapps to relax the rules and allow these drivers to return.
They believe the move is one of few that could solve the present crisis, but their pleas have so far fallen on deaf ears.
They have also criticised the Government's plans, which could take up to five months to swing into action.
Mr Shapps has so far offered to fast-track licensing and recruit new drivers, on top of lifting restrictions on driers' working hours.