What the papers say – August 4

Various angles on the coronavirus and a Russian hacking scandal are among an assortment of topics on Tuesday’s front pages.

The Daily Mirror condemns Britain’s test and trace system as a “fiasco” and a “timebomb” which will not prevent a severe second wave of the coronavirus in December.

Metro says Rishi Sunak’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme for half-priced restaurant meals has hindered the fight against obesity, with some people simply eating two meals instead of one.

The Daily Mail links the scheme with a call to get Britain moving again, saying: “We’ve had our lunch, now let’s get back to work!”

The i leads on advice from Government scientific advisers that anyone recently recovered from Covid-19 should be exempt from household quarantine measures and given the “right to roam”.

https://twitter.com/theipaper/status/1290389829751013378/

And in other medical news, The Times and the Daily Express lead on doctors being told not to prescribe paracetamol or ibuprofen to sufferers of chronic pain as they can “do more harm than good”.

Meanwhile, reports that Russian hackers stole classified documents from the email account of Cabinet minister Liam Fox before last year’s election make front page news on The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph.

The Daily Star criticises Boris Johnson, saying the Prime Minister’s planned cutting of numbers in the House of Lords will come after he hands out peerages to some of his friends and his brother Jo.

And the Financial Times leads on a sharp drop in profits for HSBC.