The remainder includes remuneration for auxiliary police officers and other expenses, such as expenses for transit, personal protective equipment and other such expenses, Annika Orav, chief law enforcement officer of the crisis management group at the PPA, told BNS on Wednesday.

Orav said that the expectation of the Health Board (Terviseamet) and the government for the Police and Border Guard Board is for oversight over compliance with restrictions to be performed both during normal and overtime hours.

She said that from August 16 to November 21, officials of the PPA carried out a total of nearly 36,200 hours of inspections, of which nearly 26,000 hours were regular working time and more than 10,000 hours overtime.

In addition, inspections are carried out by assistant police officers, who have worked nearly 2,800 hours in total during this period related to oversight over abidance by restrictions.

Orav added that in total, more than 1,500 PPA staff, and more than 200 assistant police officers, have contributed to the control of restrictions during this period, both during overtime and regular hours. A total of nearly 700 staff did overtime during this period.

"The government has allocated extra money to the police to monitor compliance with Covid restrictions. Our services as a whole are not disrupted. Certainly, some work has been affected, but all vital services have been and continue to be functional," Orav said, adding that the police discuss with the Health Board on a weekly basis where and on what scale oversight should be performed. 

A total of €697,870 has been allocated from the government's reserve to the area of administration of the Ministry of Social Affairs for compensating the PPA for the costs related to COVID-19 oversight.  

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