Pre-settled status to Settled status (absence consideration)

Hi All,

I am a non-EU national who holds a pre-settled status through my marriage with an EU national. Since Feb'20, my wife and I have been away from UK due to the covid-19 lockdown situation. Throughout this time, I have been continuously remotely working for my UK employer as usual (i.e. will have National Insurance records) and also have the usual utility bills/flat rental invoices etc in UK. I am planning to move back to UK around September - October (unless there is a spike of covid-19 cases in the UK). I would have qualified for converting my status to settled status next month. I was wondering if you could help with the following questions?

1. Does my absence of 5+ months (since Feb'20) disqualify me from securing Settled Status next month? My understanding was that the absence check is based on automated HMRC/National Insurance data so the system should not detect any gaps.

2. If the answer to #1 is no, Can i apply today (i.e. a month before the I qualify for 5 year residence) given the long waiting times ?

3. If the answer to #1 is yes, when do I become eligible for SS (Assuming we return to UK in SEp-October)

4. My wife naturalized as a British citizenship in Jan'20. My plan was to apply for UK citizenship soon after securing SS. My absence in the last 12 months before application will probably be ~200+ days because of the one-off long absence due to covid-19. Do you think this absence disqualifies me from UK citizenship or Is there any scope for discretion to be applied because of the unprecedented pandemic situation?

Many thanks in advance for the help!

Please replace "Surinder Singh" by Settled status in point #3. Not sure how that got changed