Newspaper headlines: 'Grim' economic forecast shows 'dark days ahead' By BBC News

Staff Published duration 15 April

media caption Chancellor: Coronavirus will have "very significant impact" on economy

"More austerity would be a cruel slap in the face," is the message to the government in the Daily Mirror's editorial, as it considers the impact of the dire economic forecasts released on Tuesday.

The paper suggests the rich should be asked to pay more tax but life should not be made harder for people including nurses, cleaners and bus drivers when the lockdown is lifted.

The Sun uses its leader column to suggest restarting the economy is not just a "lives versus money and jobs" debate. It says there should be more consideration given to possible deaths from poverty, unemployment and tax rises from a "paralysed" economy.

In the New Statesman, Stephen Bush considers whether there has been enough focus on what he calls "peak lockdown performance" of the economy

He says the job retention scheme should have been one of a "suite of government policies" - citing the example of a business which ended up furloughing staff because they could not afford the transition to home-working.

image copyright Google image caption More than a third of the residents at Wren Hall care home in Nottinghamshire died over the Easter weekend

"Are people dispensable?" is the question asked by one nursing home manager in the Guardian

Anita Astle, who is in charge of Wren Hall in Nottinghamshire, tells the paper that more than a third of its residents died with coronavirus over the Easter weekend.

She says the situation is getting "harder and harder" and that the sight of empty bedrooms has left staff feeling "broken inside".

With the risk of contagion being high, she reveals the only solace she could offer one grieving family was to be in the home's car park at eleven o'clock in the evening as undertakers arrived to collect their relative's body.

The Metro's headline describes care homes as the "forgotten front line" of the coronavirus pandemic.

Despite Chancellor Rishi Sunak's assurances the sector will get the help it needs, one director of three homes in Sheffield is quoted in the paper saying the offer is "too little, too late" as her staff deal with a shortage of personal protective equipment and testing kits. Eleven of her residents have died.

The Daily Mail's Ian Birrell believes what's happening in care homes is a "callous betrayal" of the most vulnerable in society.

He says the situation "shames politicians" who are "spouting platitudes" - pointing out that Health Secretary Matt Hancock has responsibility for both the health service and social care.

He concludes by saying that the sector has been "savaged by austerity... unlike the NHS".

The Daily Telegraph's Jill Kirby is similarly critical, writing that there is a "dismal irony" that the UK's "national and quasi-religious obsession" with the health service has pushed care homes out of the picture

image copyright BBC/Ray Burmiston image caption Would the Strictly stars of 2019 have embraced a lockdown with their dance partners?

Finally, the Sun claims the bosses of Strictly Come Dancing are planning to put the celebrity contestants in isolation with their dance partners , if social distancing rules are still in place later this year.

The paper says the idea is currently being tried in the German version of the show.