But it looks increasingly as if the situation will not ever go back to how it was: many employees for companies who have sent all staff home are already starting to question why they had to go in to the office in the first place.

Large technology firms were some of the first to make the switch to remote working for all their staff, building on pre-existing infrastructure such as office chat groups, remote access to critical tools, and the fact that much knowledge work can be carried out remotely.

In Seattle, the hub of many of America’s early Covid-19 cases, companies including Amazon, LinkedIn, Microsoft and Google advised workers to stop coming in to the office in late February. In early March, Twitter “strongly advised” all its employees worldwide to do the same, and on Wednesday, made it compulsory.