Covid-19, particularly the devastating Delta variant of the virus, fuelled extra expenses just shy of $3.6 million for the health ministry in 2021-22, MPs have been told.

The House of Assembly heard supplementary estimates for budgeting, with health minister Kim Wilson getting the extra spending approved without objection from the Opposition.

The education ministry spent an extra $3.5 million on substitute teachers, MPs were told.

Also, Lieutenant-Colonel David Burch, the public works minister, outlined two operational expenditures totalling $5.7 million — and a capital expenditure of $1.6 million for emergency repairs to the boiler system of the Tynes Bay incinerator.

The bulk of operational expenses came from the use by various government departments of vehicles kept by Works and Engineering at the Government Quarry.