The CEO of one of Australia’s largest supermarket retail chains has written to customers warning of product shortages during the current wave of the Omicron variant, which has led to high staff numbers isolating and gaps in the company’s supply chains. “Unlike the surge buying of early 2020 (who could forget the toilet paper), this is because of the number of people in our supply chain in isolation—from suppliers to truck drivers and distribution centre team members—which in turn is causing material delays to store deliveries,” Brad Banducci wrote in an email on Jan. 7. “To give you a sense of the magnitude of the challenge, we are experiencing COVID-driven absences of 20 percent+ in our distribution centres and 10 percent+ in our stores,” he said. Banducci said New South Wales—Australia’s most populous state—was hit hardest and conceded that he was “not yet clear” on when the system could get …