Supermarket have rubbished Government claims about mass food deliveries to the sick as ‘fanciful, bogus and misleading’.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock claimed talks have been held with retailers to supply groceries through online orders and home delivery to Britons who are self-isolating.
But chains insist they do not have the vehicles and drivers to cope with a sudden spike in demand – and the only way to increase the number might be to call in the Army.
One senior retail source said: ‘Currently the share of groceries bought online is about 6 or 7 per cent across all supermarkets.
Shelves at Sainsbury’s in Harlow, Essex showing where toilet rolls and kitchen rolls have sold out. Harlow was the first town in the county to have a Coronavirus case this week
Dried pasta has flown off the shelves and was in short supply at this Asda store in Southampton today, Friday
Pictured: Sign describing ‘supply difficulties’ for toilet roll at a Waitrose in Esher
Shelves which normally stock hand gels and soaps are seen stripped bare at Asda in Chandler’s Ford, Southampton – companies producing the sanitisers say they are ramping up production because of ‘exceptional demand’
‘There are enough vans and infrastructure to supply that 7 per cent. More could be switched on over time but it’s not like flicking a switch.’
The Health Secretary made his claims on BBC’s Question Time on Thursday evening. He said the Government was ‘absolutely confident there won’t be a problem’ with food supply.
However, talks with retailers about home deliveries were only initiated yesterday. The major online grocers – Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Waitrose and Ocado – have a fixed number of vehicles and drivers with little scope to boost numbers.
Senior industry analyst Bruno Monteyne, of stockbrokers Bernstein – who is a former Tesco executive – said online delivery slots will be swallowed up very quickly.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said last night that the government was working closely with retailers to ensure that people who self-isolate at home can get essential supplies
He said: ‘There is a limited capacity for home delivery. So very soon it will probably be near-impossible to get a delivery slot.
‘If we really get to a bad outbreak with major staff shortages, I think there will be a case to be made that the drivers will be better utilised in keeping the shelves full and supporting the core operation of “feeding the nation”.’
He questioned the safety of delivering to people who may be infected with coronavirus, asking: ‘How responsible is it for a self-isolating person to get a driver to deliver to him?
‘Why put the person that feeds you at risk of getting the virus?’
Stores plan to deliver shopping to the doorstep without any need for personal contact, but that may not be possible in all cases. Fewer than one in ten people – 8 per cent – do all their grocery shopping online, according to retail analysts Mintel. A further 11 per cent do most of their food shopping in this way.
Mr Hancock had said on Question Time: ‘The Government has supplies of the key things that are needed and, within the food supply, we are absolutely confident that there won’t be a problem there.
‘Crucially, we are working with the supermarkets to make sure that, if people are self-isolating, then we will be able to get the food and supplies that they need.’
He warned against panic buying, saying there was ‘absolutely no need’ for people ‘to go round buying more than they need’.
However, many have already cleared shelves of hand sanitiser, painkillers and toilet paper.
Shops have seen increased purchases of disinfectant, pasta, rice and canned goods.
Soup shelves had been cleared in a Sainsbury’s branch in Crayford, London, today
This Sainsbury’s store in Crayford, south-east London, had been all but stripped of toilet roll supplies as Britons admit to panic-buying essentials for fear of a demand and supply crisis if there’s an outbreak
A commuter on the London Underground wears a gas mask on Friday morning as the capital was gripped by coronavirus fears after the UK’s first death
The British Retail Consortium has asked ministers to suspend regulations that limit driver hours and store deliveries.
Chief executive Helen Dickinson said it would ‘ease pressure in the supply chain’.
Meanwhile, Environment Secretary George Eustice held a hastily arranged conference call with retailers yesterday.
He said: ‘They reassured me they have well-established contingency plans and are taking all necessary steps to ensure consumers have the food and supplies they need. Retailers are continuing to monitor their supply chains and have robust plans in place to minimise disruption.
‘I will be convening a further meeting with industry, retailers and public sector organisations early next week to discuss support for vulnerable groups who may be in isolation.’
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Don’t visit GP – NHS will call you back to check you’re ill
Patients who make a GP appointment online may be phoned back to check that they do not have coronavirus before they come in.
NHS officials have told doctors to take the utmost precautions to ensure patients do not unwittingly arrive at surgeries with the illness.
They have instructed GPs to carry out a telephone or Skype assessment of anyone who has booked an appointment online. This is in case they wish to see their doctor because of a sore throat, temperature or cough, the typical symptoms of coronavirus.
Often patients who book an online appointment do not need to disclose their reasons, unlike those who ring up and speak to a receptionist. The advice was issued by NHS England to practices on Thursday night to ‘mitigate any risk that potentially infected patients book appointments online and attend the practice’.
At least 20 GP surgeries have been forced to close for deep cleans in the past month after patients with suspected coronavirus walked into waiting rooms.
This is contrary to official advice that says anyone who is worried they might have the illness should ring NHS 111 and await a test.
The latest closures involve practices in Essex, Derbyshire, Wiltshire, Liverpool and Hampshire, according to Pulse magazine.
Doctors are also being urged not to encourage patients to stockpile their medication by switching to long prescription durations.
Many people have taken to wearing face masks on public transport. One many was pictured wearing his headphones over the mask (left) while another was pictured on the tube this morning wearing the full face covering (right)
Customers queue outside Boots in Salisbury, Wiltshire, this morning, amid reports that supermarkets and shops across the UK are running out of hand sanitiser
A back log of customers outside Costco in Croydon as shoppers were given hand sanitiser on entrance
The new advice says: ‘These actions may put a strain on the supply chain and exacerbate any potential shortages.’
It comes as the NHS prepares to double the number of coronavirus tests that can be carried out in a day.
The health service currently has the capacity to do 2,000 tests a day and they are analysed in one of 12 labs across the country.
But this will rise to 4,000 in the coming days as laboratories in NHS hospitals are authorised to do the checks.
They will include home tests, drive-through tests – where patients are swabbed by a nurse without leaving a car – and tests in pods outside A&E units.
But if an epidemic takes hold, the NHS will have to give up on testing all possible cases as there could be several thousand a day.
Patients and doctors would instead be told to use a ‘clinical definition’ to diagnose coronavirus based on the symptoms of a cough, sore throat, temperature and shortness of breath.