Newspaper headlines: £500 Covid payment and flood devastation

image captionThe Guardian leads on suggestions ministers are considering giving everyone who tests positive for Covid in England £500. It says the plan for a “dramatic overhaul” of the self-isolation support scheme comes amid concerns too many people with symptoms are failing to take a test in case a positive result stops them working.

image captionThe Daily Mail is among several other papers to follow up the Guardian’s exclusive story. The Mail calls the proposal a “£500 Covid cashpoint” but says any increase in handouts is likely to be met with resistance from the Treasury.

image captionThe Daily Telegraph says the “incentive to get more people tested” is the preferred position of the Department of Health and is due to be considered by the government in the next few days. It is estimated the scheme could cost £453m a week, adds the paper.

image captionThe Times describes the proposal for a £500 payment as being part of a plan to “slow” the virus. Ministers are trying to solve a problem that scientific advisers have long said is an obstacle to controlling Covid, it explains. Along with most of the other front pages, the Times also reports the flooding across north-west England and Wales – featuring a photograph of a woman knee deep in water in a room of her Cheshire home.

image caption“Wet, wet, wet,” says the headline on the floods story in the i. For its lead, the i focuses on the Covid vaccine – reporting ministers are planning an overhaul of the rollout to ensure people across England do not face a “postcode lottery” in getting the jab.

image captionThe Daily Mirror highlights its campaign for all school employees to be given priority in the vaccine rollout. Burnley teacher Donna Coleman, 42, who died with Covid, is pictured on the front page as her sister backs the Mirror’s call for classroom staff to be protected.

image captionA picture of Education Secretary Gavin Williamson features on the front of the Daily Star – over the headline “Sorry for being clueless”. The paper says it is a “cut-out-and-keep” image for its readers to wave when politicians cannot answer a question from the media. It comes after Mr Williamson said he was “not able to exactly say” when pupils would go back to school in England.

image captionThe Metro leads on figures from the Crown Prosecution Service that show violent assaults on emergency staff working on the Covid-19 frontline are the most common crime of the pandemic. Nearly 1,700 people in England and Wales have been charged with offences including attacks on nurses and police.

image captionThe Financial Times reports the administration of new US President Joe Biden is to join global efforts to make Covid-19 vaccines and drugs available across the world. The move reverses the position of his predecessor Donald Trump and ushers in a “new era in health diplomacy”, says the FT.

image captionThe Daily Express says the BBC is facing a “revolt” from the over-75s, who no longer get a free TV licence. It says one million pensioners have decided not to buy one, hitting the corporation’s budget.