evidence: UK shoppers have once more been asked not to stockpile food, toiletries or other items as the high number of Covid-19 cases and of workers being asked to self-isolate impacts supermarket supply chains. [...] It has been reported that soft drinks, beer and personal care products such as deodorant have been the most likely to be affected by supermarket shortages. Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng has said that he doesn’t "want people to get the impression that every shelf in every supermarket is bare", but from Edinburgh to Liverpool and from Devon to London, shoppers have posted pictures of empty or sparse shelves on social media. [...] The government is hoping that this daily testing regime will begin to alleviate pressure on supermarket shelves from the start of next week. However, it’s clear that it is struggling to maintain the integrity of the self-isolation system, given that the rising case load is leading to evermore staff shortages and therefore calls for further industries to be exempted from the self-isolation rules.