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Only about 12 Britons stay in quarantine in Swiss ski resort after hundreds flee
Source: The Guardian
Only about 12 Britons stay in quarantine in Swiss ski resort after hundreds flee
Hundreds left Verbier after discovery of new Covid variant despite order to self-isolate
Peter Beaumont
Mon 28 Dec 2020 15.34 GMT
Last modified on Mon 28 Dec 2020 19.30 GMT
Only about a dozen British tourists out of about 420 appear to be left in the Swiss ski resort of Verbier after an undisclosed number fled a mandatory quarantine, many under cover of darkness, risking a 10,000 Swiss franc fine (£8,300) and drawing widespread condemnation on social media.
Asked about the runaway tourists, the Swiss health minister, Alain Berset, said: “We are aware of that. It’s obviously a problem. There was an order to quarantine that has not been respected.”
He added: “One shouldn’t underestimate what an impossible situation it was. We had to decide within hours what to do … That things don’t work perfectly in such a situation, that problems surface, is a reality we have to live with.”
While some Swiss officials were sympathetic to the British skiers who quietly escaped rather than comply with Switzerland’s new quarantine rules for citizens from the UK and South Africa, after the discovery of a new highly contagious variant of coronavirus, commentators on Twitter were less kind, focusing on the wealth and entitlement of the skiers.
It also appeared that some of the skiers may have ignored UK advice on not travelling abroad as part of the new restrictions announced before Christmas.
-snip-
Hundreds left Verbier after discovery of new Covid variant despite order to self-isolate
Peter Beaumont
Mon 28 Dec 2020 15.34 GMT
Last modified on Mon 28 Dec 2020 19.30 GMT
Only about a dozen British tourists out of about 420 appear to be left in the Swiss ski resort of Verbier after an undisclosed number fled a mandatory quarantine, many under cover of darkness, risking a 10,000 Swiss franc fine (£8,300) and drawing widespread condemnation on social media.
Asked about the runaway tourists, the Swiss health minister, Alain Berset, said: “We are aware of that. It’s obviously a problem. There was an order to quarantine that has not been respected.”
He added: “One shouldn’t underestimate what an impossible situation it was. We had to decide within hours what to do … That things don’t work perfectly in such a situation, that problems surface, is a reality we have to live with.”
While some Swiss officials were sympathetic to the British skiers who quietly escaped rather than comply with Switzerland’s new quarantine rules for citizens from the UK and South Africa, after the discovery of a new highly contagious variant of coronavirus, commentators on Twitter were less kind, focusing on the wealth and entitlement of the skiers.
It also appeared that some of the skiers may have ignored UK advice on not travelling abroad as part of the new restrictions announced before Christmas.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/28/dozen-britons-remain-in-quarantine-in-swiss-ski-resort-verbier-covid
