A total of 145 people - 12 of them under the age of 16 and two over the age of 70 - have been arrested for breaches of Covid rules since the pandemic began.

And 48 were jailed for Covid offences last year.

Figures have been released by the police following a Freedom of Information request.

They show that between March 20 last year and January 17 there were 160 arrests made where at least one of the reasons was a suspected Covid offence.

Of the 145 individuals arrested - some have been arrested more than once - 16 were non-residents.

The police said it did not hold data on whether these individuals had exemption certificates.

A total of 83 arrests resulted in the individual being charged for a Covid-19 offence.

Of the 160 arrests, 12 were suspects under 16, 14 were aged 16-17 and 29 were aged 18 to 22.

Fifteen were aged between 60 and 69 and two were between 70 and 79.

The number of arrests in the other age brackets were as follows - 23-29 years (29), 30-39 years (28), 40 to 49 years (14) and 50 to 59 years (17).

Of those charged, seven were under 16, four were aged 16 to 17 and 16 were 18 to 22 years.

No fewer than 11 were aged between 60 and 69 and one of those charged for a Covid offence was aged between 70 and 79.

Ten were aged between 23 and 29, 16 between 30 and 39, nine 40 to 49 and a further nine aged between 50 and 59.

Responding to a separate Freedom of Information request, the Department of Home Affairs confirmed that 48 people had received a custodial sentence for breaching the island’s coronavirus regulations in 2020.

Among the headline grabbing cases were the five welders from Yorkshire each jailed for 14 days each for failing to isolate immediately after arriving in the Isle of Man.

One of the welders led to a lockdown at the prison after testing positive for coronavirus.

But the most notorious case was the lovesick Scotsman Dale McLaughlan who was jailed for breaching entry restrictions by travelling to the island by jet ski to see his new girlfriend.