Postal delays as Royal Mail staff forced to self-isolate due to COVID-19

Royal Mail has warned that there may be postal delays in several areas of England due to staff forced to self-isolate.

Usually delivering six days per week, under its obligations as the UK’s designated universal service provider, Royal Mail has listed ten areas in which it will attempt to deliver every other day, “though this may not always be possible in offices temporarily affected by very high levels of absence.”

The areas affected include Blackpool, Bristol South East, Chorley, Enfield, Middleton, Newton Abbot, Plympton, Rochdale, Southport and Worthing.

Credit: Johannes Plenio

Royal Mail is far from alone in suffering staff shortages due to rising delta variant infection rates and consequent test and trace app alerts—supermarkets, for example, have struggled to keep shelves stocked due to absent staff and supply chain disruption.

The UK government, which recently ended all lockdown restrictions despite the spread of the variant, has looked to tackle the so-called “pingdemic” by increasing the number of sectors exempted from self-isolation rules.

Source: Money Saving Expert, Sky News

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