Countdown is expecting supermarkets and their stock will be hit by Omicron before the general population and a spokesperson is urging people to shop normally.
Shelves at Countdown, St Lukes, Auckland, were stripped of toilet paper following the announcement the country will move to red. Photo: RNZ / Kymberlee Fernandes
Countdown director of corporate affairs, safety and sustainability Kiri Hannifin said toilet paper was once again a hot commodity after it was announced yesterday the country would move back to the red setting of the traffic light system.
"We saw some heavy sales of toilet paper and some other products today but it's been a busy week."
While it makes sense to buy a couple of extra products when you shop, "don't go overboard, you don't need a trolley [full] of toilet paper because it just puts pressure on our supply chain and means others will go without", Hannifin said.
Countdown is expecting supermarkets and their stock will be hit by Omicron before the general population.
"It's not great news in terms of supply chain disruption."
Countdown had been planning for Omicron since December, learning from its business in Australia.
"We are conscious of 30 percent of people off [work at] any of our sites, particularly our distribution centres, would cause significant disruption.
"It's not just our business of course, it's the transport providers, the farmers, the food manufacturers. Everybody needs to be very safe and have really rigid controls in place because if one peg falls over then it will disrupt the whole supply chain into stores."
Hannifin said rapid antigen tests which are used in Countdown distribution centres "are kind of like our crown jewels".
"We're using them voluntarily but they really are better for surveillance when there's widespread Omicron. I guess as far as we can though we'd like to use them much more widespread really from today because we need to keep Covid, or Omicron, out of our distribution centres to keep them going, to keep the supply coming in and out to our stores."
In Australia it was a critical control - people went to work when they knew there was rapid antigen testing on site.
"We don't want absenteeism, we don't want people to stay away because they're afraid so we think it's critical that we have them in some of our sites so we're working really hard to get proper support and guidance on that."
There has been two years worth of supply issues because of global freight problems, she said. "That remains."
"We had a big run on cat food yesterday and cat food was already a difficult commodity for us."
While stock was always coming in, it was not in the same quantity as the supermarket was used to, she said.
"There's always going to be things available, there's always going to be choices, it might not be your first choice but it will be something else that will be a great substitute."
Limits could be put in place within a couple of hours, she said.
"There's no need to at the moment if New Zealanders just shop normally."