Pubs and restaurants are still having to close en masse due to the so-called ‘pingdemic’. Staff, already difficult to find and few and far between, are being told to self-isolate by the NHS app. It’s leading to closures.

Still, even after repeated calls from the industry for the Government to tweak the system and allow the ‘test to release’ idea to take hold (if positive, isolate, if not, hey, get back to work), nothing has happened.

There have been closures aplenty. None are as high-profile as The Ritz, which has become one of the latest victims of the pingdemic.

The Mail revealed London’s 115-year-old hotel was forced to close its ever-adored restaurant on Tuesday, just 24 hours after so-called ‘Freedom Day’, because too many members of staff were told to isolate.

Customers’ bookings will have to be rescheduled, staff lose hours and tips, and The Ritz, no cheap place to run, misses out on income.