Does this mean the much-longed-for recovery is about to be stopped in its tracks? The same cinema operators that had been thrilled by the brisk advance ticket-sales for next week’s Marvel film, Spider-Man: No Way Home – its first week’s figures outstripped even Bond’s – will now surely be dreading a rash of cancellations in light of the new edicts. 

But the UK Cinema Association, which represents the country’s multiplexes and independent operators, was quick to note that the mask mandate won’t apply to patrons who are exempt – or to those who are eating or drinking, in line with the general rules around hospitality at indoor venues. They also made clear that cinemas in England would not be required to introduce vaccine passports, which have proven an almighty headache at venues in Wales and Northern Ireland, thwarting walk-in business, deterring elderly and disabled customers, and adding to the burden of already overstretched staff.

So happily, most of us won’t have to scramble for QR codes. And as for the masks themselves – well, speaking as someone who’s regularly obliged to wear face coverings at press screenings, which set their own Covid policies and tend to err on the paranoid side, they’re honestly not too bad. Yes, they’re a low-level nuisance – particularly for those of us who wear glasses, and have to cope with the dragonish puffs of exhaled vapour that fill the bottom of our fields of vision during especially exciting scenes.