A number of changes to the way we check in to venues and shops on the NHS Test and Trace app have been made ahead of the reopening of hospitality and retail from Monday.
The updates to the NHS Test and Trace app – which was first launched in May 2020 – have come into effect today to coincide with the availability of rapid lateral flow COVID-19 tests for everyone in England from Friday, and now state that everyone in a group must check in when they arrive at a venue, rather than just one member of a party as was previously required.
This individual check in should be done either by scanning an NHS QR code poster on the app, or by providing your contact details to the venue.
On top of the above changes, it’s also been confirmed that if an NHS Test and Trace app user has a positive coronavirus (COVID-19) test result, they will be required to share their venue history privately on the app to ensure the venues are alerted faster.
This is to help ensure that local outbreaks are able to be contained more easily.
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If an NHS Test and Trace app user has been at a venue on the same day as someone else who has since tested positive, they may receive an alert telling them to book a PCR test, whether they are showing symptoms or not.
All venues in England will be given new QR posters to display, which the government says are clearer and easier to use.
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Business owners are legally required to display these posters.
Freepik | Wikimedia Commons
As aforementioned, the changes to the NHS Test and Trace app also arrive ahead of a campaign beginning in England tomorrow to encourage people to do twice-weekly rapid lateral flow COVID-19 tests, which had previously only offered to key workers and others seen as most at risk.
The tests can be ordered to your home, carried out through a workplace testing programme, or delivered through community testing.
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People aged 18 or over will also be able to collect a box of seven tests from participating local pharmacies, and if carrying out the tests at home, individuals will need to register their results online or by calling 119.
They should self-isolate if positive, and order a confirmatory PCR test.
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For the latest information, guidance and support during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the UK, please do refer to official sources at gov.uk/coronavirus.
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Featured Image – gov.uk
News
Drama Call opening first-ever flagship shop in Manchester
Danny Jones
Streetwear superstars Drama Call are opening their new flagship store and first-ever permanent site in Manchester city centre this weekend.
Expect massive queues and lots turning up wearing the increasingly recognisable starry logo.
Already a much-loved brand not just here in 0161 but across the nation at large, the native independent business turned street-style favourites and UK fashion phenomenon are no strangers to HUGE pop-ups in their hometown.
However, they’ve never had a mainstay location anywhere in the country, let alone Greater Manchester – well, until now, that is…
Credit: Press shots (supplied)
Debuting in the Northern Quarter this Sunday, the venue located on Tib Street will effectively serve as Drama Call‘s new HQ.
The local label has done everything from popping up vans with Manc rapper Aitch to collaborating with Man United for multiple limited edition collections, so it only felt like a matter of time before they’d make a big brick-and-mortar splash in our fair city.
Most notably, they’re also taking over the same unit as the Sheep Shop, a former skate shop and legendary urban clothing tastemaker of the 90s; they were one of the first places in Britain to stock famous names like Stüssy, Supreme, Carhartt, The North Face and many more.
With that in mind, it feels only fitting that they carry on the trendsetting tradition from the same premises, and just spitting distance from the likes of Note, as well.
And that’s not all, either: before the full launch, they’ll also be holding an exclusive cash-only shirt swap event, where a limited number of certain collector’s items will be sold for as little as £10.
Other things to note are the additions of signed vinyls by homegrown artists such as the aforementioned Aitch and even The Smiths.
In fact, the store will also feature strictly Mancunian exclusives, too.
Everything from polo shirts and tees to branded mugs, matchboxes and other accessories will be available in-store only.
NQ is bound to be buzzing across launch weekend, with doors officially opening to the public on Sunday, and we wouldn’t be surprised if you see people camping outside the front well ahead of time.
What a moment the Manc shopping scene is having right now.
Featured Images — Publicity pictures (supplied via Pear)
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Andy Burnham explains why Number 10 North is so important as it officially ‘opens for business’
Emily Sergeant
Andy Burnham has explained his key reasons for launching Number 10 North as it officially ‘opens for business’ this week.
You may remember that earlier last month, Andy Burnham revealed he had intentions to create a Number 10 North if he was to become Prime Minister, with the new base expected to be a ‘dominant driver of the UK’s economy’ once it was officially up and running… and now, fast forward to today, Number 10 North is officially ‘open for business’.
Operating from Heron House in Manchester city centre, as previously reported on, Number 10 North will be the Government’s new ‘situation room for growth’.
It also brings the ‘levers’ of local economic growth and devolution together under one roof for the first time ever.
Number 10 North has officially ‘opened for business’ / Credit: gov.uk (via Wikimedia Commons)
With the Prime Minister expected to work from Number 10 North each week, so that decisions about the country’s economic future will no longer exclusively be made in Westminster, and with other ministers also working from there on a regular basis, the Government says the move underlines its determination to ‘do things differently’.
Now that Number 10 North has officially opened, Andy Burnham and his fellow ministers have explained why this move is so important for not just Manchester, but the north as a whole.
“For 40 years, power and resources have been sucked into the centre, and too many communities have felt forgotten, without the attention and investment they deserve,” explained Andy Burnham.
“Number 10 North will change that by putting more power into every postcode across the entire country. It will be the situation room for making Britain better, the place we use to get power out of Westminster, into the hands of people at a local level, so that they can turn things around.
“The days of Whitehall resisting devolution are over, for good.”
First Secretary Louise Haigh added: “Today marks a fundamental re-balancing of where power sits in our country. Number 10 North has been set up to drive economic growth in every postcode and put power in the hands of every community.
The Manc -
8th April 2021 
