UK
From Monday, the Government is making changes to the NHS Covid app in an effort to reduce the disruption caused by the high numbers of people instructed to self isolate after having contact with someone who has tested positive. Now people will just need to self isolate if contact occurs within two days of a positive test rather than the current five day rule.
The recent ‘pingdemic’ has had a disastrous impact on the hospitality industry, struggling to repair the damage after lockdowns and limited trading. The situation has a knock-on effect on hospitality laundry businesses hoping to benefit from work fuelled by the summer season.
Commenting on the announcement from the Department of Health and Social Care on the update to the NHS Covid app, Kate Nicholls, CEO of UKHospitality said:“With our research showing more than 250,000 hospitality workers being affected by ‘pings’ at any given point by the NHS Covid app, this intervention from Government is absolutely necessary to prevent a complete loss of summer trading for the hospitality sector following prolonged periods of severely disrupted trading.
“This will help to alleviate some of the pressure currently being experienced by hard-hit businesses but is not a silver bullet. The fact that fully vaccinated staff will still currently have to self-isolate is a significant barrier to venues operating viably and moving towards recovery. We urge Government to update guidance and bring forward a workable test to release scheme at the soonest possible opportunity.”
