About 10,000 workers in the food supply chain industry will be exempt from the coronavirus self-isolation rules – but that will not include supermarket staff, the government said.
Environment Secretary George Eustice said the government had identified “up to 500” distribution centers and food supply chain centers where workers could be part of the program.
Anyone involved will soon no longer have to self-isolate for up to 10 days if they come into contact with a positive coronavirus case.
Mr Eustice said the exemption will begin on Friday for 15 “priority testing sites”, with workers moving to a daily testing regimen that allows them to work if they are negative every day, instead of having to put themselves on the job. quarantine.
Empty shelves have been spotted in recent days as many workers have been forced to self-isolate after being cracked by the app
The system will then be rolled out to 150 more supermarket depots next week and “several hundred” food manufacturers thereafter, Eustice said.
“We recognize that there are staff shortages in the food supply chain, so what we are announcing is for the first type of around 400 locations, things like supermarket depots and some of the major product manufacturers. food, we’re going to change the system and allow them to test to get back to work.
“So a person contacted in the future by Test and Trace or who is interviewed will be able to undergo daily contact tests for seven days and [will] be able to continue working as long as their test remains negative.
Mr Eustice said the new exemption would apply to “probably close to 10,000 employees, maybe more”, including supermarket depots and distribution centers.
George Eustice said the scene would not apply to supermarket staff as it would see a ‘major deviation’ from the testing, tracing and isolation program
“Anyone who works at one of these sites but who is …
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Source: news.sky.com
This notice was published: 2021-07-22 19:44:00
