£10,000 fines may be given out to people who falsify a Covid pass or negative test result under a new law brought in by the government.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid was speaking in the House of Commons on Monday, December 13. He was speaking in the wake of the first recorded death as a result of the Omicron variant in the UK.
Laws to introduce Covid passes, due to be debated in Parliament on Tuesday, have now been published.
The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (Entry to Venues and Events) (England) Regulations 2021 make it an offence to make, adapt, supply or offer to supply “false evidence of Covid status to another person” which is known to be “false or misleading” and this will be punishable by a fixed penalty notice (FPN).
Other offences under the regulations also could result in fines for breaking the rules. These include a £1,000 FPN in the first instance, reduced to £500 if paid within 14 days, for example for venues who do not comply with the rules or ignore improvement notices issued by councils, Leicester Mercury reports.
Human rights lawyer Adam Wagner, who interprets coronavirus regulations on Twitter for the public, said: “Absolutely absurd that these regulations have been published less than 24 hours before the vote. They are so complex they should have had months of debate like a proper law.”
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