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Newspaper headlines: Fears over variant spread as millions reunited

By BBC News
Staff

Published
image caption"Touched by hope" is how the Daily Mirror describes scenes of emotional reunions seen across England, Wales and most of Scotland on Monday - with some of them pictured on its front page - as Covid restrictions were eased. The paper says the relaxation of the rules - which saw the return of hugs with loved ones and indoor socialising - brought "joy for millions".
image captionA pony enjoying a pint of lager inside a pub is the ultimate sign that Britain "is back in business", according to the Daily Star's take on Monday's lockdown easing.
image captionAs the first passengers flew abroad on Monday after the lifting of the government's foreign travel ban, the Daily Telegraph's splash reports that British tourists are shortly set to be given the "green light" by the EU to use vaccine passports to travel to Europe. The paper says that EU ambassadors are set to approve a plan on Wednesday that would allow fully vaccinated Britons to fly to popular hotspots such as France, Italy and Spain, without having to take a Covid test or quarantine. But it points that whilst the plan would see the EU accept passengers based on their vaccination status, the UK "confers no such status" on those who have had the jab, and still requires testing or quarantine for all returning holidaymakers.
image captionThe Times' splash reports that ministers are weighing up plans for local lockdowns, or a delay to the planned easing of restrictions, on 21 June amid concern over the Indian variant. Under one proposal, modelled on last year's Tier 4 restrictions, the paper says people would be advised to stay at home and non-essential retail and hospitality would be closed if the variant wasn't brought under control. An alternative plan, focused on a delay to the June unlocking, would see grants handed out to the worst-hit sectors such as nightclubs and for large events like festivals. A source tells the paper that local lockdowns could lead to a "patchwork" of restrictions across the country that people would ignore.
image captionThe i says that new advice on mask wearing and social distancing will be "delayed" as scientists "want more time" to consider the risk posed by the Indian Covid variant - a setback the paper says will be a "huge blow" for the arts and hospitality industries as they welcomed back customers to indoor spaces on Monday.
image captionThe Guardian says that as the "rapid spread" of the Indian variant puts the end of lockdown in "jeopardy", the government is facing "intense pressure" to "more fully explain" the delay in adding India to its travel red list of countries.
image captionBut the Daily Mail's splash says Boris Johnson has been urged by his MPs not to delay the planned unlocking in June over a "few" vaccine "refuseniks". A cabinet minister tells the paper that missing the "milestone" date could become the prime minister's "Theresa May moment" - a nod, it says, to her "failed Brexit deadline". The June "freedom date is burned on people's brains" much like Mrs May's date for leaving the EU, the source says, adding: "When she missed it, she was finished".
image captionThe Metro's lead reports that thousands of Covid vaccine "sceptics" have "changed their minds" and been "queuing round the block" for a jab in areas worst hit by the surge of the Indian variant. More than 6,200 people were vaccinated over the weekend in Bolton - where the B.1.617.2 variant is now dominant. Health Secretary Matt Hancock is quoted as saying that most people in hospital in Bolton with this variant had been eligible for a jab but had chosen not to have it.
image captionLike other papers, the Daily Express reports Mr Hancock's appeal to the public to get vaccinated in order to beat the Indian variant and help end all restrictions by June.
image captionThe Financial Times' lead reports that ministers are locked in a "ferocious" battle over whether to give tariff-free access to Australian farmers as part of a "major" post-Brexit trade deal with Australia. Sources familiar with the internal talks have told the paper that the International Trade Secretary Liz Truss regards the issue as a "crunch point" but is being met with "stiff opposition" from Environment Secretary George Eustice and Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove. The FT reports a zero-tariff deal risks a "backlash" from the British farming industry and "inflaming" arguments over Scottish and Welsh independence as tariff-free imports of Australian lamb and beef would "likely" hit Scottish and Welsh hill farms.

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The Times reports that there are fears that the spread of the new Indian coronavirus variant could "end in tiers", forcing ministers to re-impose local lockdowns.

While Boris Johnson considers this a "last resort", it says, officials have drawn up plans modelled on the Tier Four restrictions introduced in England last year.

The paper reports Mr Johnson has rowed back from the "maximalist" approach he had been considering, which would have dropped the need for face masks in most public places, along with the one-metre plus social distancing rule.

image copyrightReuters

The Daily Express says we are "so close" to freedom, while the Daily Mail accuses so-called "jab refuseniks" of threatening it.

Tory MPs, it reports, are urging the prime minister not to slow down his unlocking plan just for the sake of what it calls a "small band of anti-vaxxers".

The Mail quotes an unnamed cabinet minister who says that 21 June has become the "freedom date...burned on people's brains". But "at last, they get the point", reads the main headline in the Metro, which says even vaccine sceptics are now taking up the jab, including 10,000 people last week in Bolton.

The Daily Telegraph says EU ambassadors will agree tomorrow to allow fully vaccinated British holidaymakers to fly to Europe, without the need for Covid tests or quarantine.

The paper says the bosses of British Airways and Heathrow Airport have urged the government to reveal in advance which countries it's planning to add to its so-called green list - so families can plan ahead for later in the summer.

Heathrow's chief executive tells the Telegraph that the current list of just 12 quarantine-free destinations - most notably Portugal - is leaving passengers with high prices and limited choices, for last-minute bookings.

image copyrightReuters

The Financial Times reports the cabinet is split by a "ferocious" fight over whether to sign off a trade deal with Australia. It says the debate is over whether to grant zero-tariff access to Australian farmers - and risk a backlash from the UK farming industry.

Allowing tariff-free imports of Australian lamb and beef, it reports, would "land hardest" in rural areas such as Scottish and Welsh hill farms.

It's a "100-million-dollar question", one government official has told the paper - with the Environment Secretary George Eustice, and his predecessor, Michael Gove on one side of the issue, and the International Trade Secretary, Liz Truss, and the Brexit negotiator, Lord Frost, on the other.

The Guardian has a front-page story that the Home Office is writing to British citizens with dual EU citizenship, warning them - in error - that they need to apply for settled status.

It says people who've been here for decades have "expressed alarm" at being told they could lose the right to work, benefits, and free healthcare - unless they apply for UK immigration status in the next six weeks.

The Home Office tells the paper that in trying to contact "as many people as possible" about settled status, there may be "a small number of cases" where letters have been sent to someone who's already naturalised as a British citizen. In such cases, it says, no action is required.