Johnson rebuffs calls from business to ease self-isolation rules

Boris Johnson is resisting calls from business leaders to bring forward the date under which fully vaccinated workers can avoid having to self-isolate, as evidence mounts that the Delta variant of coronavirus is causing huge disruption for UK industry.

Multiple sectors including the NHS, manufacturing, hospitality and transport are reporting significant staff shortages because of workers having been pinged by the NHS Covid-19 app and told to isolate at home after coming into contact with someone infected with coronavirus.

There are fears the workplace disruption will intensify when most coronavirus restrictions in England are lifted on Monday.

Some of the UK’s largest pub groups, including Stonegate and Wetherspoon, signed a letter sent to the prime minister on Friday warning that shortages of security staff posed an “urgent risk to public safety”.

The government has said that from August 16, people who have had two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine but are contacted by test and trace will not have to self-isolate at home, but instead can take coronavirus tests.

Business groups said they cannot wait four weeks and are urging Downing Street to immediately drop the requirement for double-jabbed workers to self-isolate.

But senior government figures said on Friday that Number 10 would not change the August 16 date. “Isolation is one of the most powerful tools we have,” said one ally of the prime minister. “We don’t want cases to go even higher.”

Downing Street hinted that workers in some key industries could be exempted from the current self-isolation rules, having previously said NHS staff may not have to comply.

Johnson’s spokesman said the government expected Covid-19 cases to increase in the coming weeks. On Friday the UK recorded 51,870 new cases in the latest 24-hour period, the highest daily number since January 15.

The NHS Covid-19 app sent more than 520,000 alerts last week recommending that people in England self-isolate after coming into contact with someone who had tested positive for coronavirus, according to the latest data from the NHS.

That was the highest number ever, and a tenfold increase on one month earlier, highlighting how the Delta variant is rapidly spreading through the UK population.

Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents hospital trusts, said the number of health service staff having to self-isolate was having a “significant impact” on services.

“We absolutely know that it’s contributing in some places to trusts having to reduce the amounts of elective surgery that they’re doing,” he added.

Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham said it had had to postpone planned surgery for two days. 

A total of 1,091 staff are off work at the hospital, of which 275 have either been told to self-isolate or have contracted Covid-19.

Meanwhile the Luton van factory operated by Vauxhall will run two instead of three shifts next week because some of its 1,500 workers are having to self-isolate.

This comes after production was hit at the UK’s largest car factory, operated by Nissan in Sunderland, due to about 10 per cent of workers there having to self-isolate.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the auto industry trade body, said mass isolation was “undermining the sector’s recovery” and it had written to ministers calling for the August 16 date to be brought forward or for the NHS Covid-19 app to be changed.

Airbus, one of the largest employers in north Wales through its wing factory at Broughton, said the “self-isolation alert system . . . has created an increase in the number of Broughton employees having to self-isolate”, but said its production schedule had “not been affected to date”.

Food manufacturers including Nestlé and Mars said they were facing worsening staff shortages.

“We are making some alterations to our production planning to accommodate the increased levels of absence,” said Nestlé, the maker of Kit Kats, Nescafe and Haagen-Dazs ice cream.

Mars said the numbers of workers having to self-isolate following alerts from the NHS Covid-19 app were “increasing at pace”, but production had so far not been affected.

Nick Allen, chief executive of the British Meat Processors’ Association said post-Brexit staff shortages in the industry were being exacerbated by workers being “pinged” by the app.

“It’s getting a bit out of control . . . hopefully we won’t have plants closing but we are stretched to the absolute limit,” he added.

UKHospitality, the trade organisation covering businesses like pubs and hotels, said at least one-fifth of workers in the sector were self-isolating, with absences peaking in some areas at one in three.

The hospitality industry has been worse hit than other sectors because of the sheer number of customers visiting venues following the lifting of certain coronavirus restrictions.

Mitchells & Butlers, the pub group which has around 1,700 sites, said it had to close 40 properties over the past week due to lack of staff. Rival Greene King has had to shut 26.

The UK Door Security Association has warned that 60 per cent of security positions are at risk of being left unfilled when nightclubs and festivals reopen from Monday. 

The UK Cinema Association said that 10 days ago, 10 per cent of the sector’s 20,000-strong workforce was in self-isolation, a number it expected to have been “heading upwards at a pace”.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, another trade body, urged the government to “pull forward” the August 16 date given the “serious impact” on retailers from isolating workers.

Some train operators warned they could have to cancel services because of staff self-isolating.

Govia Thameslink Railway, which runs the Thameslink and Southern commuter services around London, said: “There will be times that we can’t run some of our trains. Unfortunately, our train crew may be unavailable at short notice due to Covid-19 effects or the need to isolate.”

Many ports across the UK are experiencing their worst staff shortages since the Covid-19 pandemic began, with some missing a tenth of their workers due to self-isolation. Bristol, Liverpool and Felixstowe are among the worst affected.

Tim Morris, chief executive of UK Major Ports Group, which represents large commercial operators, said manufacturing supply chains could break down and retailers might not receive certain goods as a result of staff shortages at ports.

Suzannah Nichol, chief executive of Build UK, the construction industry body, said some gangs of workers on sites had been forced to self-isolate, although no operations had been forced to shut down.

One construction company said the NHS Covid-19 app “is more trouble than it’s worth because safety measures are in place and yet workers have to go home if they are pinged”.

Additional reporting by Judith Evans, Peter Campbell, Harry Dempsey, Sylvia Pfeifer and Gill Plimmer