Around 100 members of staff at the Great Western Hospital are off work as the ‘Pingdemic’ hits services and businesses across the town.

It was revealed yesterday a record 618,903 people in England and Wales had been told to self-isolate after being in contact with someone who tested positive for Covid-19 in the week to July 14.

The latest available data from the Department for Health and Social Care data also showed 1,290 people in Swindon were ‘pinged’ by the NHS Test and Trace app over the same period..

They include scores of key workers at the town’s hospital as services, food supplies and businesses come under increasing pressure as Covid cases continue to soar.

As a result GWH has closed its Urgent Care Centre early from 9pm to 7am every night from yesterday to July 29 due to higher demand and the staff shortage.

Hospital bosses had already taken measures to safeguard against what has been labelled the ‘Pingdemic’ by instructing staff working at the hospital or GP practices to ‘pause’ the contact tracing element of the app while on duty.

This would prevent staff who are likely to come within 2m of someone with Covid-19 for 15 minutes, but might be in a separate room, or wearing the full PPE from being unnecessarily off work.

But the hospital is now putting in extra steps to get workers who have been told to self-isolate back to work quicker.

A hospital spokesperson said: “Following updated guidance from NHS England, we are reviewing staff who are ‘pinged’ by the Test and Trace app. Some eligible staff will undertake a risk assessment that will deem if it is safe for them to return to work.

“However, they should continue to follow normal isolation rules outside of work hours.

“Any permission to return to the workplace is subject to an initial negative national PCR test and a risk assessment, followed by daily negative lateral flow tests for a minimum of 7 days.

“We want to reassure the public that staff will only return to work if it is safe for them to do so and will be wearing full personal protective equipment – the risk to the public is very low and you should continue to come to your appointments or attend hospital as planned.

All staff, patients and visitors must wear a face mask when on site at the hospital, regularly wash their hands and maintain social distancing.”

Last week the number of people said to have been told to self-isolate in Swindon was 951, but that figure has dramatically risen since.

Swindon Borough Council’s recycling box collections have been delayed as a number of waste collection staff have to self-isolate.

Dorcan Academy had to close its doors early moving to remote learning for the final week before half-term for the same reason.

he Government has come under fire after businesses revealed they were struggling to cope with increasing numbers of people being “pinged” by the app.

Pictures of empty supermarket shelves were widely shared online around the country yesterday, suggesting the app was causing disruption to the sector.

Richard Walker, managing director of supermarket giant Iceland, said the firm was having to hire 2,000 temporary workers to prepare for “the exponential rise in pinging”.

The British Retail Consortium has urged ministers to “act fast” to allow fully-vaccinated workers, or those who test negative, to be exempt from isolation if notified by the Covid-19 app.

The government will introduce a wider relaxation for all double-jabbed individuals but that will not come until August 16 – a month after most Covid-19 laws ended.

It was due to publish a list of sectors exempt from isolation last night.