THE First Minister has warned that forging a COVID pass could come with serious consequences.

Mark Drakeford’s warning comes after he today (September 17) announced that you’ll need to remember one extra thing before a night out at the clubs or before heading to a big event in Wales come October.

Welsh Government announced that COVID passes – showing a holder either been double jabbed or has had a negative lateral flow test in the past 48 hours – will be required at certain venues and events come Monday, October 11.

Speaking at his Cardiff press conference, the minster was quizzed about the system being ‘taken advantage of’ – with concerns about people falsifying COVID tests for the sake of a night out.

Simply put, the nation’s Labour leader said that the actions of those individuals could be made a criminal offence as a way to deter this.

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He said: “I rely on the fact that in the long history of coronavirus in Wales the vast majority of people are people who want to help, who want to do the right thing and who want to be sure that they are playing their part in keeping themselves safe and other people too. 

“We will consider, over the next few days, whether or not to introduce a specific offence of knowingly and deliberately falsifying a COVID pass.

"If there are people who think that this is just an easy ride and that they can just invent results, then they may find there are significant consequences for them in doing so.” 

Mr Drakeford compared the offence to people using false ID’s at pubs.

He added: “There are parallel regimes like this we can draw on if we decide that the risk of people falsifying results is so significant that we need a separate offence.”