Personal details of Welsh Covid-19 patients put online in 'human error'
The personal details of 18,105 Welsh residents who had tested positive for Covid-19 were made available on a public website after a "human error".
Public Health Wales (PHW) said the information was uploaded on the afternoon of August 30 and taken down on the morning of August 31.
They said in the 20 hours the information was viewed 56 times.
The data was the personal details of all of the 18,105 Welsh residents who had tested positive for coronavirus up until August 30.
The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Wales has since risen to 19,390.
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In the majority of cases (16,179 people) the information that was made public consisted of their initials, date of birth, geographical area and sex.
PHW said they considered the possibility of identification from the information as low.
The remaining 1,926 cases consisted of people living in care homes or other enclosed settings such as supported housing, the information also included the name of the setting they resided in.
PHW said they still considered the chance of identification as low, but conceded it was higher than in the other cases.
PHW said there was no evidence any of the data that was put on the website had been misused at this time.
In a statement they said: "We recognise the concern and anxiety this will cause and deeply regret that on this occasion we have failed to protect Welsh residents’ confidential information."
The Information Commissioner's Office and Welsh Government have been informed and an external investigation was underway.
Public Health Wales said they had taken steps to ensure this wouldn't happen again.
Tracey Cooper, Chief Executive of Public Health Wales said, “We take our obligations to protect people’s data extremely seriously and I am sorry that on this occasion we failed.
"I would like to reassure the public that we have in place very clear processes and policies on data protection.
"We have commenced a swift and thorough external investigation into how this specific incident occurred and the lessons to be learned.
"I would like to reassure our public that we have taken immediate steps to strengthen our procedures and sincerely apologise again for any anxiety this may cause people.”
164 new cases of coronavirus were confirmed by Public Health Wales on Sunday.
Anyone concerned their data or that of a close family member may have been breached and wanting advice should read the FAQs at www.phw.nhs.wales and email PHW.data@wales.nhs.uk if they have anyadditional questions.
People can also call Public Health Wales on 0300 003 0032 to discuss their concerns.