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Hundreds of UK tourists fled the exclusive Swiss ski resort of Verbier in a swashbuckling operation this week, breaking quarantine rules set to contain the spread of the new variant of the coronavirus first discovered in the UK. .
Following the detection of the new Covid-19 mutation in Britain, Swiss authorities announced on December 21 that all people who had arrived from the UK since December 14 would need to self-isolate for 10 days from their date of departure. arrival.
Among those subject to the new quarantine rules were hundreds of British tourists who had planned to spend the Christmas holidays in Verbier, an Alpine village located in the municipality of Bagnes in the Canton du Valais, nicknamed “Little London” by locals for British visitors who make up 20 percent of tourists during a typical winter season.
Swiss authorities managed to locate 420 UK visitors in Verbier, who were told to go into quarantine.
However, according to a report in the Swiss newspaper SonntagsZeitung, at least half of these tourists fled the resort “clandestinely”, with some later reporting to their hotels from France.
“Many of them were quarantined for a day before leaving under cover of darkness,” said Jean-Marc Sandoz, Bagnes municipality communications officer.
Many hoteliers had only noticed the departure of their guests after they did not answer calls to their rooms or left meals deposited outside their rooms untouched.
Initial mystery
Given that flights between Switzerland and the United Kingdom had been canceled since Sunday, December 20, it was initially unclear where the tourists had disappeared, Sandoz said. Later, some tourists contacted their hotels to find out if they still had to pay for the nights they originally booked.
In light of reports that the variant discovered in the UK was 70 percent more transmissible, SonntagsZeitung reported “xenophobic resentment” against British tourists at the luxurious resort. “Anyone who speaks English is suspicious,” it read.
“Many people are unfairly reported and accused of violating quarantine instructions, just because of their language,” Sandoz said.
Swiss media quoted an elderly London woman, who had isolated herself in her second home in Verbier, as saying: “For days I was under widespread suspicion. It was unbearable. “- Guardian
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