Professor Stephen Reicher has warned the so-called pingdemic only evidences how high the number of infections really is. The expert is a member of the SPI-B, the Sage-linked team of behavioural scientists that advises the Government on “anticipating and helping people adhere to interventions”.

       He stressed that he was “not talking about going back into lockdown,” but rather bringing “sensible” measures into force.

       He told BBC Newsnight: “The problem aren’t the pings. The pings actually tell you there’s a problem so you can do something about it.

       “The problem is people being in contact with those who are infected because so many people are infected.

       “And the issue in the end is what are we going to do about that level of infections?

       “It was quite self-evident that once you get to 50,000 infections a day - or as Sajid Javid has predicted up to 100,000 and some say even 200,000 - very large number of people would have to self-isolate and very large numbers of contacts would then be contacted.”

       He added: “We are not talking about going back into lockdown, but we are talking sensible measures like retaining masks, social distancing, good ventilation…

       “And the interesting thing is that when you look at public opinion, public opinion very much agrees with that.

       “So two-thirds of people think that the Government moved too fast, about 75 percent of people think we should retain masks…”

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