ALMOST £5 million has been spent on testing Islanders and incoming passengers for Covid-19 since Jersey opened its borders in July.
During States questions, Deputy Kevin Pamplin asked Chief Minister John Le Fondré to outline the cost of the programme, including spending on transport, since the ports reopened on 3 July.
Senator Le Fondré said that £4.832 million had been spent in total.
‘I’m advised that direct expenditure totalling £2.558 million has been recorded in the financial system from 1 July to the 31 of August,’ he said.
‘This included costs associated with on-Island testing as well as people arriving in the Island and incorporates clinical staff costs, costs for test processing and includes transport costs.
‘In addition the test-processing costs of August, which will be recorded in the financial system when the invoice has been received so are not in the system at the moment, are anticipated to be around £2.274 million.
‘Due to the way in which it has been recorded, it is rather difficult to split out the cost between testing for arriving passengers and for testing Islanders.’
Deputy Pamplin asked whether the Chief Minister could break down the cost between testing in the Island and that carried out in UK laboratories.
Senator Le Fondré said that he would try to get a break down for him but there could be issues due to ‘commercial sensitivity’.
More than 91,000 tests have been carried out since 3 July. A new Jersey-based testing laboratory, based at the Aero Club, was unveiled last month and is due to open imminently.