More than €2.4bn spent on healthcare response to Covid-19

Some €915m was spent on PPE, including masks and gloves, last year.

The Government spent €2.4bn on healthcare directly related to Covid-19 last year, including €915m on personal protection equipment (PPE), swab kits and ventilators, and €215m on testing and contact tracing.

The extra spend in 2020 brought the total healthcare bill overall to €26.4bn, an increase of 11% on the previous year, according to figures calculated by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).