The Papers: ‘Cheers’ at roadmap – but normal ‘some way off’

image captionMost of Tuesday’s newspapers focus on Boris Johnson’s press conference on Monday, when he confirmed the next step to lift lockdown in England will go ahead on 12 April. The Daily Express is among the papers reacting with jubilation at the news that pubs and restaurants can open for outdoor service, calling it the next step of the “roadmap to freedom”.

image caption“Book your table now!” says the Metro newspaper. It says the fall in infections, hospitalisations and deaths means the next “big step out of lockdown” can go ahead. It quotes the prime minister as saying he will be going to the pub and “cautiously but irreversibly raising a pint of beer to my lips”.

image captionMeanwhile, the Guardian picks up on Mr Johnson’s quote that life will start returning to “some semblance of normality” in June. But the paper says hopes of foreign holidays from 17 May were dampened when Mr Johnson admitted he was nervous about the virus “being re-imported into this country from abroad” following a surge in cases across Europe.

image captionThe Daily Mail strikes a gloomier tone, saying Mr Johnson warned normal life may not return this year despite the success of the vaccination programme. “Call this freedom?” the paper asks, as it lists social distancing and twice-weekly Covid tests as among the new features expected as part of our daily life. Meanwhile, as hairdressers in Scotland were allowed to open, the paper pictures First Minister Nicola Sturgeon getting a trim.

image captionThe Daily Telegraph also focuses on Mr Johnson’s warning that normality is still “some way off”. The paper also reports on the latest prediction from the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies, which suggests the full release from restrictions in June could spark a new wave of Covid hospitalisations as bad as the January peak. According to the scientists, even with vaccines a return to normal social mixing would still risk “a big epidemic”, the paper adds.

image captionThe Financial Times suggests Mr Johnson is “heading for a showdown” with his own MPs over the issue of Covid passports. More than 40 Tory MPs have vowed to oppose any certificates that would require people to prove their Covid status in order to do certain things in the UK, saying it would be discriminatory. A review is still ongoing, but in a statement the government said introducing a ban would in most cases intrude “on how businesses choose to make their premises safe”.

image captionThe prospect of vaccine passports also features in the i newspaper’s front page report. According to the government’s report published on Monday, the idea of Covid status certification “is likely to become a feature of our lives” until the threat from the pandemic subsides, the paper says.

image captionSummer holidays make the front of several papers. The Times says Mr Johnson was hopeful of foreign holidays to a limited number of destinations from the middle of next month. In general, the paper calls Mr Johnson’s assessment of the current situation “upbeat”, as he said there was nothing in the data to suggest England would have to deviate from the roadmap to lift lockdown.

image captionAlso focusing on holidays, the Daily Star suggests that the British camping trip is “about to boom across hundreds of makeshift summer sites”. The paper suggests demand for domestic holidays will be “astronomical” and there will be 500 pop-up holiday sites set up.

image captionThe Daily Mirror also reports on the “quirky venues” such as stately homes, alpaca farms, pubs and racecourses that are planning to transform themselves into pop-up campsites this summer. The paper says landowners are taking advantage of the demand for domestic holidays, as a relaxation in the law allows sites to open for 56 days without planning permission this year, compared to half of that time in an ordinary year.