It’s not impossible the island will see a new case of Covid at some stage, the Chief Minister told Tynwald.

But Howard Quayle added: ’This will not be a sign of failure.’

He said only a small number of people are coming to the Isle of Man - returning residents and those critical to keep the island running.

Mr Quayle said the contact tracing team will be ready to investigate and ’break that chain again’. The Covid 111 hotline and testing capability will be maintained for as long as they are needed, he added.

Bill Shimmins (Middle) asked why we aren’t testing all new arrivals for Covid-19.

Mr Quayle replied current public health medical advice is that testing all new arrivals would give a ’false sense of security’ as a negative result could come back on someone who was infected but had yet to show symptoms. Mr Quayle said this advice was being reviewed and ’a test may be the answer’.

He said there was capacity to do up to 200 tests a day and weekly testing had been offered to several thousand people who are working in schools, the NHS and with the ’blue light’ services.

He said: ’Amazingly, we’ve had a very low response but we need to keep capacity for that potential uptake. We do test everyone who the medics on the 111 helpline feel need to be tested, we do test everyone who goes into Noble’s Hospital.’

Mr Shimmins accepted testing may have some limitations but urged the government to look at double testing or different types of testing.

He added: ’If we accept there is a risk from new arrivals with our borders why are we not testing in a more intelligent and dynamic way?’