VISITORS to public buildings in Winsford and Cheshire West will now be asked for their contact details to help trace coronavirus.

All visitors will be asked for their details on entry as part of the NHS Test and Trace system, and the data will be held by Cheshire West and Chester Council for 21 days before being destroyed.

The council will pass the contact details onto NHS Test and Trace if it asks for them, or CWAC may need to contact people if there’s a positive Covid-19 test result linked to the building.

Cllr Louise Gittins, CWAC leader, said: "We are monitoring data every day in order to identify if there are any signs of local outbreaks across our borough.

“With public buildings opening across west Cheshire, there may be the unfortunate circumstance that we have a local outbreak which involves a public building. In the event of this happening, the Council would manage the outbreak as it would with every location in the borough.

“We may be asked to pass the contact details of people who have visited public buildings to the NHS Test and Trace Service so they can get in touch with them, as they may have been near an infected person. Help us to do this by sharing your contact details and play your part to protect the community.”

Ian Ashworth, director of public health for CWAC, added: “It is important for us to gather this information. It will help us pass information to the NHS Test and Trace Service so it can track down the virus in the event of an outbreak.

"We must protect lives and protect livelihoods and you can play your part to help us do that.”

Every council has published how they will prevent and manage local outbreaks if they occur and CWAC's plan can be viewed on the council's website.

READ > The colossal load that brought Winsford and Middlewich to a standstill again

It explains that the council is working with local organisations and settings to ensure they are ‘Covid-secure’, are supporting and protecting their communities and contact tracing if there is a local outbreak.

Protect yourself and your family and friends by getting a coronavirus test if you have symptoms of a persistent cough, fever or loss of taste and smell by calling 119 or visiting nhs.uk/coronavirus

Protect your community by then self-isolating for 14 days if you have symptoms or if alerted to do so by a contact tracer.