BORIS Johnson has ordered 500,000 civil servants back to work from Monday as England returns to normal.
Managers have been told to get every department back to full capacity by next Friday.
Ministers will be drafted in to oversee the mammoth task and keep tabs on staff numbers in offices.
It comes after the PM lifted work from home Covid guidance on Wednesday, saying the country was on the path to “complete normality”.
It triggered a gradual return of staff which Boris wants to turn into a flood to boost struggling city centres and help the hospitality industry.
Top Tory minister Steve Barclay said: “We need to move away from video meetings and return to face-to-face working.”
Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng admitted fewer than half his staff were back but vowed: “It will increase.”
A source said: “We’ve had enough of people sitting on their a***s at home.”
Unions are expected to oppose mass returns as unsafe.
Daily cases fell four per cent in a week to 95,787 yesterday, although deaths were up seven per cent to 288.
The ‘R’ rate fell below one, meaning the outbreak is shrinking.
