Every person prosecuted under the Coronavirus Act was wrongly charged, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said.
Under the act, officers are allowed to remove or detain a "suspected infectious person" for screening and assessment, but all 44 charges brought up until the end of April were incorrect.
And 12 charges under the Health Protection Regulations 2020, which give police powers to break up gatherings and fine people breaching restriction of movement rules, were also wrong.
However, other offences under those regulations were charged correctly, CPS director of legal services Gregor McGill said.
"Under the regulations, the vast majority, that's 175 out of 187, have been charged correctly.
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"And these included people driving from London to Leicester for a party, groups drinking and misbehaving in the park and other groups hanging around the town centre after being asked to go home by police on several occasions.
"Where mistakes were made, it was usually because Welsh regulations were used in England, or vice versa.
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"Under the act, all 44 charges were incorrect because they did not cover potentially infectious people, which is what the legislation is intended for."
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The CPS reviewed all 231 police charges under coronavirus legislation in England and Wales up to the end of April, where the prosecution has either been stopped or ended in a conviction.
Most (38) of the 44 charges had been brought alongside other offences, including Read More – Source
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