Six entry certificates were issued on the day the island went into its third lockdown - and 21 the next day.

Details have been released following an information request. They show that at the time the FoI request was made on March 15, there had been no fewer than 143 entry certificates issued by the Cabinet Office since lockdown 3 began on March 3.

Information campaigner Trevor Cowin, who submitted the FoI request, told the Examiner: ’How can we possibly keep the virus out of the island when the Cabinet Office continues to allow people to enter?’

The Cabinet Office’s response reveals that on March 3, one entry certificate was issued for a key worker, three were issued on compassionate grounds and two were granted in respect of other categories of entrants.

On March 4, no fewer than 16 entry certificates were approved for key workers as well as two on compassionate grounds and three for other reasons.

Since then the issue of entry certificates continued unabated with a total of 143 being granted during the period from March 3 to 15.

And in the period from February 1 to March 15, there were a total of 752 issued.

The largest number were issued on February 24, including 115 given to key workers.

Mr Cowin requested figures for the number of entry certificates permitting entry to the island issued by the Cabinet Office’s Travel Notification Service from the 1st February 2021 to date, broken down by date of issue and category.

But he had to seek a review when not all the information was provided.

The review upheld his complaint, and found that five days of data, from March 11 to 15, had inadvertently been omitted.

Mr Cowin had queried why the original response talked of information ’that is being released to you’, which he suggested indicated other data had been withheld.

But the review concluded that no information was consciously withheld, and the phrase he had queried could be attributed to the semantics of the response.

The Manx government insists robust procedures are in place for the issue of entry certificates and permits.

A question in the House of Keys in February revealed that a total of 37 Manx entry permits have been revoked in cases where the applicant has been unable to provide evidence of proof of residency.

Two contractual exemption certificates have been revoked where the employment position had fallen through and three compassionate certificates have been revoked where there was no urgent or compelling compassionate reason for travel.

As key worker exemption certificates are for single entry, none have been revoked. These can however be withdrawn if, for instance, applicants decide they no longer wish to proceed or if regulations change.