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Newspaper headlines: 'Ready, test, go' and 'roadmap revealed'

By BBC News
Staff

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image caption"Are you ready? Get testing. Go" is what the Times says is a draft slogan for a provisional plan to return the UK to a "new normal". Under the scheme, 400,000 rapid lateral flow tests will be sent to homes and businesses each day, hoping to isolate asymptomatic cases, the Times says. Elsewhere, the paper pictures Dubai's Princess Latifa bint Mohammed al-Maktoum, who has accused her father of keeping her hostage in a series of newly released videos.
image captionEngland's coronavirus lockdown is unlikely to be fully eased before daily Covid cases are in the hundreds, reports the Daily Telegraph. The paper says it understands next week's roadmap announcement is unlikely to reveal a timetable for ending restrictions. It quotes a senior Whitehall source as saying there "is a real reluctance about committing to specific dates".
image captionThe Daily Mail reveals a blueprint for easing restrictions for England's leisure and hospitality industry. The paper says venues may be "broadly normal" by July. Discussions by ministers and industry leaders would allow a four-week gap between each adjustment to restrictions, it adds. By May, it says restaurants and pubs will open with two households able to mix inside - by June the rule of six will apply indoors.
image captionThe government's move to ask a further 1.7m people in England to shield from the virus leads the Guardian. The paper says that - for the first time - ethnicity and deprivation have been recognised as risk factors for severe Covid. Separately, the paper pictures BBC radio DJ Jo Whiley who has spoken of the battle to secure a vaccine for her sister.
image captionA breakthrough by experts at Oxford University helped to identify the near 2m people who must now shield, the i paper reports. The move doubles the list of vulnerable adults in England, it adds. Meanwhile, the paper reports anger from families of people with learning disabilities about delays to vaccine protection.
image caption"Let us visit loved ones", is the Daily Mail's headline. The paper reveals what it describes as the "shock toll" of lockdown on OAPs in care homes.
image captionEvery adult in the UK could be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 by August, the Metro reports. The paper quotes the head of the vaccine taskforce, Clive Dix, as predicting all over-18s would "probably" have a first injection by May. The paper says the forecast comes amid positive signs of falling death rates and soaring immunity levels.
image captionThe Queen has expressed her faith in the Duke and Duchess of Sussex ahead of their planned "tell-all" TV special with Oprah Winfrey, the Daily Express says. Quoting "Palace insiders", the paper says Her Majesty expects Prince Harry and Meghan to honour royal protocol during their interview.
image captionThe Daily Star reports star darts players have stopped drinking and are now using yoga to beat stress ahead of matches.
image captionAnd big mining companies are to reward shareholders with record dividends as the sector bounces back from the pandemic, the FT reports. Elsewhere, the paper says some big employers are drafting "no jab, no job" contracts after the UK government said it was up to companies to decide whether they will require workers to accept a Covid vaccine.

Many of Wednesday's papers consider the next phase of pandemic restrictions in England.

The Daily Mail says ministers and industry leaders are discussing a "roadmap out of lockdown" that would see restrictions in England gradually eased at four-week intervals, with leisure businesses "broadly" back to normal by July.

According to the paper, there would be a limited reopening of self-catered holiday lets by Easter; and restaurants and pubs would reopen in May, with two households allowed to mix indoors, and the reintroduction of the "rule of six" outdoors. Venues would be allowed to serve six people indoors by June.

The Daily Telegraph reports that lockdown will continue until cases drop below 1,000 a day. It projects this could happen by early April, with a senior Whitehall source telling the paper there's a "real reluctance about committing to specific dates, without knowing what the case numbers are doing".

The Times says nationwide "surge testing" will play a big role in any easing, with 400,000 rapid testing kits to be posted each day to homes and workplaces.

'No jab, no job'

The Financial Times reports some employers are drawing up "no jab, no job" contracts, after vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said it was "up to businesses" whether they could require their staff to get vaccinated.

According to the FT, Barchester Healthcare, which runs more than 200 care homes, has said it will not hire new staff who refuse a vaccine on non-medical grounds, with Pimlico Plumbers announcing a similar policy.

One lawyer tells the FT such clauses in employment contracts are more likely to be defensible in sectors such as care settings, because of the presence of vulnerable patients. 

The Daily Mirror's main story is a plea to ease visiting restrictions in care homes. Beneath the headline "Dying of loneliness", it has before-and-after photos of residents whose health it says has deteriorated during a "cruel year of separation".

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image captionA plea to ease visiting restrictions in care homes leads the Daily Mirror

The paper says relatives, charities and MPs are demanding that every care home resident is allowed up to two "essential family carers", who would get the same rights as staff to the vaccine, personal protective equipment and in-person visits.

The Department of Health and Social Care says it will do everything it can to enable close-contact visits again, "the moment it is safe".

The Radio 2 DJ Jo Whiley is pictured with her sister, Frances, on the front of the Telegraph and the Guardian, asking why she was offered a vaccine before her sister - who has a learning disability and diabetes, and has now contracted Covid in a care home.

Ms Whiley's decision to make her frustration public on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Tuesday is welcomed by the Guardian.

Its editorial argues adults with disabilities are "too often left out of a conversation that is assumed to be all about older people" when younger adults account for a third of those receiving social care.

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And finally. "Think fast!", advises the Mail, as failing to answer questions quickly may suggest you are lying.

It has seen a study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, which found we tend to think that people who give slow replies are pausing to make up a lie, while suppressing the truth in their mind. It says the results can be applied to a wide range of interactions, including job interviews and even court trials.