In Switzerland, hundreds of tourists from Great Britain left an ordered corona quarantine prematurely and left overnight. Hoteliers in Verbier, a ski resort in the canton of Valais, which is popular with British winter tourists, noticed that when breakfast trays left in front of the room doors were not touched, the spokesman for the municipality of Bagnes, to which Verbier belongs, Jean-Marc Sandoz, reported on Sunday.
On December 20, Switzerland stopped all flights from Great Britain and South Africa because new and allegedly more contagious variants of the corona virus had been detected in the countries. On December 21, they ordered that all those who had arrived since December 14 must retrospectively be quarantined for ten days from the arrival date.
According to community spokesman Sandoz, the authorities in Bagnes identified 420 guests from Great Britain before Christmas who had to be quarantined. About 50 left immediately, and of the 370 others, fewer than a dozen were still there on Sunday.
“We understand their anger,” Sandoz told the German Press Agency. He sharply criticized the short-term and retroactive quarantine obligation. The communities received no help to implement the provisions.
“Families with small children were suddenly stuck in 20 square meters,” said Sandoz. “It was unbearable.” In the meantime, some guests had reported from neighboring France. The ski stations there are closed, but the British can at least get some fresh air. The municipal administration initially tried to arrange return flights for the guests, but when it was clear that only those who had demonstrably completed ten days of quarantine were allowed to board, those affected waved off.
According to the authorities, there have been 92 flights from the UK with an estimated 10,000 people on board since December 14.