According to Swiss authorities, hundreds of British guests put in quarantine in Verbier, a Swiss ski resort, over the new variant of the coronavirus which was discovered in the United Kingdom fled in the night with some turning up in France. Verbier is a village in Bagnes, Canton Valais that is popular with British tourists.
Bagnes spokesperson Jean-Marc Sandoz said Swiss authorities had identified 420 guests from the United Kingdom who had been ordered into quarantine before Christmas.
An estimated 50 of the guests fled immediately, and of the 370 others less than a dozen were still there on Sunday, he said, explaining that some of the guests turned up in France.
Jean-Marc Sandoz said: “Many of them stayed in quarantine for a day before they set off unnoticed undercover in the darkness.”
Hoteliers became suspicious of a ‘secret departure’ because calls to quarantine rooms “were repeatedly unanswered” and meals left in front of rooms “had not been touched.”
“That was the worst week our community has ever experienced,” Sandoz told newspaper Sonntags Zeitung, calling it an “unprecedented situation.” He said Bagnes felt abandoned by both the federal and regional governments.
Sandoz had condemned Switzerland’s decision to hastily impose quarantine requirements for people arriving from the United Kingdom.
On December 20, Switzerland blocked all flights from the UK and South Africa in connection to the new variants of the coronavirus found in those countries.
A day later, Swiss authorities ordered all people who had arrived since December 14 to be quarantined for 10 days from their date of arrival.
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