UK Covid pingdemic and Brexit imply meals and gasoline shortages

A customer looks at the depleted stock of ice cream at a Lidl supermarket.


Some of the biggest UK supermarkets warned Thursday that they were not able to stock some products and gas station operators acknowledged that some of their pumps were running dry.

“We are experiencing some fuel supply issues at some of our retail sites in the UK and unfortunately have therefore seen a handful of sites temporarily close due to a lack of both unleaded and diesel grades,” BP (BP) said in a statement.

BP said the “vast majority” of its shortages were being resolved within a day. It blamed a lack of truck drivers in the United Kingdom, and said it had been forced to temporarily close a fuel distribution terminal because workers were isolating after potential exposure to coronavirus.

UK workers are required to isolate at home for 10 days if they test positive for the virus or if they’re told to do so by the national test and trace service, which alerts people via an app “ping” if they’ve had close contact with someone who has tested positive.

New coronavirus cases in the…