The sight on Saturday of Boris Johnson flanked by Chris Whitty and Sir Patrick Vallance, with their often doom-laden graphs and charts, was an unwelcome return to the days when Covid was cutting a vicious swathe through the country.

The emergence of the omicron variant means that compulsory mask-wearing in shops and on public transport, along with travel restrictions and self-isolation rules, are once again a legal requirement, which it should be our duty to obey.

However, it is surely doubtful that everyone will meekly accept prolonged changes, and rightly so. We should demand that the Government constantly justifies its claim that the renewed restrictions are a “proportionate” response to the new variant. It has said that they will be reviewed in three weeks. Very well, then, but they should be in place not a day longer than necessary, and if earlier evidence proves that this variant is no more dangerous than others we’ve encountered, then our liberties must be immediately restored.

The success of the vaccination programme had led us to believe that we were well on the way to living with the virus, and while it is disappointing that we are now faced with a new variant, there are genuine worries about its possible effects, even if there is nothing definite on which experts can yet agree.

There has been a remarkably candid assessment from the South African doctor who first alerted the authorities to the omicron variant, when she said that its symptoms were “unusual but mild”. But her words contrasted sharply with an unfortunate tendency among some of the Government’s advisers to resort straightaway to their default position of demanding more restrictions. Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, rightly insisted that it is ministers, not officials, who decide what happens next.

Already ruled out is the imminent return of measures on social distancing and working from home, because of their heavy economic cost and damaging effects on mental health. Moreover, given the massive desire for a normal Christmas after last year’s lockdown, it is unlikely that the public would accept tougher restrictions for any length of time.

Their rage at the dying of hard-won freedoms is not something that ministers should underestimate.