Hundreds of UK tourists fled the upmarket Swiss ski resort of Verbier in a cloak-and-dagger operation this week, breaking quarantine rules put in place to contain the spread of the new coronavirus variant first discovered in the UK.
Following the detection of the new mutation of Covid-19 in Britain, Swiss authorities announced on December 21st that all people who had arrived from the UK since December 14th would need to self-isolate for 10 days from their date of arrival.
Among those subject to the new quarantine rules were hundreds of British tourists who had planned to spend the Christmas break in Verbier, an alpine village located in the municipality of Bagnes in Canton du Valais, nicknamed “Little London” by locals for the British visitors who make up 20 per cent of tourists there during a typical winter season.
Swiss authorities managed to track down in Verbier 420 visitors from the UK, 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 in "clandestine" fashion, with some later reporting back to their hotels from France.
“Many of them stayed in quarantine for a day before setting off under the cover of darkness,” said Jean-Marc Sandoz, communications officer for the Bagnes municipality.
Many hoteliers had only noticed their guests’ departure after they failed to answer calls to their rooms or left meals deposited outside their rooms untouched.
Initial mystery
Since flights between Switzerland and the UK had been cancelled since Sunday, December 20th, it was initially unclear where the tourists had disappeared to, Mr Sandoz said. Some tourists later contacted their hotels to find out whether they still had to pay for the nights they had initially booked.
In light of reports that the UK-discovered variant was 70 per cent more transmissible, SonntagsZeitung reported “xenophobic resentments” against British tourists in the upmarket resort. “Anyone who speaks English is suspicious,” it said.
“Many people are unfairly denounced and accused of breaking the quarantine instructions – only because of their language,” said Mr Sandoz.
Swiss media quoted an elderly woman from London, who had self-isolated in her second home in Verbier, as saying: “For days I was put under general suspicion. It was unbearable.” – Guardian