Covid pass system in Wales is ‘vulnerable to abuse’, Mark Drakeford admits

The Covid pass system being introduced in Wales is “vulnerable to abuse”, Mark Drakeford has admitted.

The passes, which are now mandatory for nightclubs and large events, will show that someone is double-vaccinated, or provide proof of a negative lateral flow test within the last 48 hours.

However, in an Good Morning Britain the First Minister has acknowledged that there is a vulnerability in the new system and a risk people could fake lateral flow test results.

Mark Drakeford said: “This is a vulnerability in the scheme. We have created a specific offence which will mean that if someone deliberately falsifies the result of a lateral flow test they will be breaching the law in Wales.”

People who fake a Covid test result or their vaccination status will be committing a criminal offence and face a fixed penalty notice is they are caught.

‘Reckoning’ 

Drakeford added: “The law will be there and there will be a reckoning.

“The offence is there to deter people – that is the main impact of it. It says to people: ‘This is a serious matter and you you need to take it seriously.’”

But the First Minister insisted that he “doesn’t accept” the idea that people will “set out to cause themselves and others harm”.

He added: “The broader point for me is that we have literally thousands and thousands of people taking lateral flow tests in Wales every day of the week – they’re not doing it in order to evade the law, they’re doing it to make sure they themselves are safe from coronavirus and they’re keeping other people safe as well.

“I’m quite sure that the huge bulk of people who are attending a rugby match or visiting a nightclub will use the lateral flow devices in exactly this way – not to get round the rules, but to make sure they’re keeping themselves safe from this dreadful disease”.