MASKS OFF BUT 1.7M ‘PINGED’ IS A PROPER CARRY ON

Experts estimated 1.7million people were forced to mark the moment when nearly all remaining Covid restrictions in England were lifted in self-isolation.

They had to stay home after being alerted by the NHS app they had been near someone with the virus.

But despite his many about-faces, Boris “Bozo” Johnson refused pleas to do another U-turn and let people who have been double jabbed skip self-isolation if they are pinged.

Firms across Britain warned they will have to cut opening hours or shut altogether due to staff shortages triggered by test and trace.

Greene King pub boss Nick Mackenzie said: “We had to close 33 pubs in the past week because of a lack of staff. It is causing us a real issue on a daily basis.”

Urgent

Iceland supermarket boss Richard Walker accused the Government of “squandering the advantages” of its successful vaccination programme by forcing double-jabbed people to self-isolate, adding: “We’re behaving like it’s the dark days of March 2020.”

Mr Walker added 1,000 of Iceland’s 30,000 workforce were currently off.

The CBI said there was an urgent need “to allow double-jabbed individuals not to self-isolate”.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng admitted the number of workers being pinged was the “single biggest issue” raised with him by bosses.

But the PM, who addressed the nation by video from Chequers after being forced to quarantine, said only a “small number” of fully vaccinated key workers would be let off the rules to “protect crucial services”.

And he warned nightclub revellers must be double-jabbed to get in. COVID lateral flow tests given out by the Government for free ran out yesterday. The website told people to “come back tomorrow”.