It’s all downhill from here.
More than 400 British tourists have fled a Swiss ski resort instead of escaping a quarantine order that forced them to stay indoors for 10 days before reaching the slopes, according to the Daily Telegraph.
Skiers were forced to isolate themselves in their rooms in Verbier, in the canton of Valais, under federal orders, after the UK announced it was fighting a more contagious coronavirus mutation that has since spread around the world.
But on Sunday, hoteliers told authorities that many guests did not answer the phone in their rooms or had breakfast served on trays outside.
Authorities found that less than a dozen of the 420 British skiers who were quarantined remained in their rooms at the expensive resort.
Switzerland banned flights from the UK on December 20 and instituted a 10-day retroactive quarantine for those who had been in the country since December 14. On Christmas Eve, the authorities said the British could return home if they took special measures to inform the local authorities of their mode of transport.
Local officials have been accused of not doing enough to enforce quarantine – an accusation that regional leaders dispute, reports the Telegraph.
“Some guests have left by car and are now quarantined in the UK,” Christophe Darbellay, president of the Valais government, told the newspaper. “There is a sense of personal responsibility. You can travel all over Europe without having to identify yourself. The border is a sieve. “
Darbellay passed the blame on to the Federal Office of Public Health, saying that passenger information was delivered too late, making enforcement “unnecessarily difficult”.
Tourism workers say enforcing regulations is confusing, in part because of inconsistent state information.
“It was a drop, a drop of information that we had and we informed tourists about the rules as best we could,” Simon Wiget, director of Verbier’s Tourist Office, told the Telegraph.
“We identified about 350 people, but maybe there would be 500 people if all owners of a second home and guests in private chalets were included, it was impossible to be sure. Perhaps some people thought they were running away, but I think the vast majority would have believed that they were acting within the law and responsibly.
“People are basically honest and don’t break the law on purpose. It’s all very confusing, even for us, ”said Wiget.
Anyone caught breaking the quarantine is subject to a $ 11,000 fine.
The FOPH responded, saying it provided local authorities with information on passengers on all UK flights, according to the Telegraph.