SYDNEY, Jan. 15 (Xinhua) -- While Australia has been grappling with the fast-spreading Omicron variant, shoppers rushing to supermarkets sadly find the shelves were already stripped bare.
Nowadays, Australia is haunted by supply chain breakdowns between food processing manufacturers, warehouses and supermarkets.
"I had read about supply shortages, but was shocked to see it for myself," said a disappointed shopper who only gave his first name as Tomkins.
"There were entire sections with no food left," Tomkins said of the shop in Sydney. "This is the first time I have seen such major impacts since the beginning of the pandemic."
Of nearly 1.4 million COVID-19 infections detected in the country since the pandemic began, about 1.2 million have been reported over the past four weeks, local media said.
The spike in caseload means more and more workers, whose jobs are to deliver groceries to stores, have been forced to stop working and into self-isolation, which has intensified already-strained supply chain crisis.
Flavio Macau, an associate Professor at Edith Cowan University, told Xinhua that the current grocery shortage was different from those experienced earlier in the pandemic.
In the past, "panic buying" was the main culprit when the first lockdown was imposed, said Macau, also a senior lecturer in supply chain management and global logistics.
This time, however, there are "up to 40 percent fewer workers in warehouses, driving forklifts and trucks and replenishing shelves," Macau said. "So consumer demand has not increased ... but the supply chain has been hit."
The Transport Workers Union reported last week that staffing at large logistics operators were presently halved. Most of the absences were due to illness or close contact with positive COVID-19 cases.
Other factors at play in the staff shortages are long delays in the COVID-19 PCR testing process and people's inability to obtain rapid antigen tests (RATs), which have become the nation's preferred way to monitor the disease.
Meat processors and retailers have faced a similarly dire situation as the Australian Meat Industry Council said that less than 30 percent of rostered workers had presented for work last week.
To reduce the pressure on supply chains, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Thursday that restrictions for workers in hard-hit sectors like food supply, transport and logistics, are being eased, meaning that essential workers designated close contacts can return to work following a negative RAT.
Rose Elphick-Darling, a research fellow at center for supply chain and logistics at Deakin University, said that supply chain delays could otherwise continue for the next few months.
"We can expect further rolling shortages for the first quarter of 2022, after the wave from holiday gatherings passes and suppliers recover," she told Xinhua.
Macau said there is no need to be overly panicky, as "in the past two years, every supply chain crisis that Australia had would be solved in about one to two, maximum three weeks."
"But you still need to check your fridge, check your pantry and see if you can have about two to three weeks of goods at home ... because next time if a crisis happens you can watch the news with no anxiety," he added. ■