Newspaper headlines: Pressure on No 10 as mass testing plan unveiled By BBC News

Staff Published duration 24 April

image copyright Getty Images image caption Nicola Sturgeon said the lifting of the coronavirus lockdown was likely to be phased in Scotland

"Sturgeon heaps pressure on Number 10 over virus plan," is the front page headline in the Times.

The paper says the Scottish First Minister's announcement on Thursday, of ways in which the Covid-19 lockdown might be eased, has left Boris Johnson's government facing calls to reveal its own strategy.

The former Conservative leader, Iain Duncan-Smith, is quoted as saying: "We must trust the British public to understand how this will happen. The Scottish administration is right."

The Guardian agrees , suggesting in its leader that the Scottish government's paper on possible next steps in the crisis makes Holyrood "more truthful and proactive than its UK counterpart".

It welcomes Nicola Sturgeon's candour in admitting that "the old reality" will not return for a long time, if at all.

Ms Sturgeon's speech is described as a "landmark moment" by the New Statesman's website

It highlights the promise that, as a strategy develops, the public will share the thinking of the policymakers in Edinburgh.

The magazine believes that contrasts with London's approach.

"There is still the sense," it says, "that the man in Whitehall not only knows best, but that voters shouldn't worry their little heads about this kind of thing."

The Daily Telegraph's lead is "Johnson back at controls on Monday".

The prime minister, the paper says, has told aides to arrange catch-up meetings with cabinet ministers next week.

The Telegraph suggests his return is happening "amid cabinet concerns the lockdown has gone too far" and says there are hopes that he'll "inject fresh impetus into plans for an exit strategy".

The easing of restrictions preoccupies the Sun. The headline for its leader is: "We must end lockdown as soon as it's safely possible, before our economy is completely destroyed."

It points out that the latest forecasts are "cataclysmically worse than anything yet predicted". And it concludes that "we should be clamouring to get back to our jobs before they cease to exist".

The Daily Mail has several pages of evidence that that's already happening.

There are photographs of people queuing to shop at the B&Q home improvement chain, which has reopened some of its stores, as well as pictures of builders working on a construction site, and a road busy with traffic. "UK on move again" is the headline. Several backbench Conservatives tell the paper the lockdown must be eased.

Under the headline "back to work" , the leader in the Times states that "the government should do everything to encourage businesses that can reopen safely to do so".

It believes the key question is whether companies can protect both staff and customers. Failure to do this risks what it calls a "debilitating second wave" of the pandemic.

image copyright Getty Images image caption The Mirror welcomes the government's move to widen testing, but adds that ministers will need to prove to the public they can implement the measures

The Guardian reports that Remdesivir, a drug that was thought to be one of the best prospects for treating Covid-19, failed to have any effect in its first full trial.

The paper explains that the study, involving 237 patients, was halted because of side-effects.

A draft document about it was accidentally published on a World Health Organization database, the Guardian reports, but it has since been removed.

The opinion column in the Mirror welcomes the government's moves to widen coronavirus testing, and trace those who've had contact with infected people.

But it concludes that, after the problems with supplies of protective equipment for NHS workers, the public will need to be convinced that ministers can implement their new testing and tracing strategy.

The consumer goods group, Unilever, has reported that demand for skin and hair care products has slumped because people are staying in their homes.

Sales of deodorant are also declining.