The Papers: 'Prepare for the worst' and 'Covid report fallout'

Defence Secretary Wes Streeting’s call for households to prepare for cyber attacks, climate emergencies and other disruption leads newspaper coverage.

The Daily Telegraph reports that people are being urged to create emergency “Be ready” kits containing three days’ worth of non-perishable food and bottled water, along with an FM radio and blankets.

The Metro uses the headline “prepare for the worst” after cyber-security flaws in the globally used PHP programming language caused websites to go offline. The paper reports that 32 government services in the UK were affected.

The Independent focuses on warnings about the possibility of state-sponsored terrorism disrupting everyday life. The government campaign also reflects concerns over climate change, technological dependence and hostile states, according to the Guardian.

The Times reports that Mr Streeting has issued a checklist for coping after a catastrophe, including keeping three days of supplies at home.

Coverage of the latest Covid inquiry findings also features prominently in the papers.

The Daily Mirror criticises former health secretary Matt Hancock after the inquiry examined the discharge of untested patients into care homes during the pandemic, when tens of thousands of residents died.

The sixth report from the UK Covid-19 Inquiry found that government failures created conditions in which Covid-19 spread rapidly in care settings. It said the sector appeared to be “something of an afterthought” during the early stages of the pandemic.

More than 43,000 deaths involving Covid-19 were recorded among care-home residents between March 2020 and July 2022, according to the inquiry’s findings.

The report also highlighted shortages of personal protective equipment and criticised the discharge of hospital patients into care homes without clear early guidance requiring them to isolate.

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