UK tourists flout quarantine and flee Swiss resort as new COVID-19 variant sparks fears

Hundreds of tourists that were ordered to quarantine at the Swiss ski resort of Verbier were reported to have fled under mysterious circumstances on December 27 as the cases of the new variant of the coronavirus surged across the UK. According to a report published in Swiss daily SonntagsZeitung, the local health authorities put at least 420 visitors from the UK under isolation with immediate effect after they launched a ‘cloak-and-dagger operation’ to mitigate the spread of the new mutation of the virus from London in the Swiss alpine village of Bagnes in Canton du Valais. It was, however, reported that the tourists from London, who were instructed to go under quarantine, quietly fled the Swiss town nicknamed ad ‘Little London’ in the night to avoid ruining their holiday plans. 

According to a statement by the communications officer for the Bagnes municipality, Jean-Marc Sandoz, published in the newspaper SonntagsZeitung, some of the British tourists stayed in quarantine just 1 day before they departed quietly from the resort 'in the dark'. Many never answered their phones and left their meals untouched as they packed their luggage and left in groups, he informed.

The officer told sources of Swiss newspaper that some of the fled tourists were reported to have checked in to hotels in France. As the air travel between the UK and  Switzerland was suspended on 20 December, Sunday, it remains unclear what mode of transportation the now disappeared tourists used to flee. The hotel reported that some of the missing tourists had called into the reservations to enquire whether they were accountable to pay charges as they had fled the resort shortly after they checked in. 

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Brits complain of 'xenophobic resentments’

SonntagsZeitung reported that it might have been due to the ‘xenophobic resentments’ against the UK tourists many holidayers under quarantine instructions decided to leave the country. Some of the tourists from London complained of ‘suspicious’ and unfair treatment by the hotel staff as a reason to denounce their stay. Anyone who speaks English is suspicious, the newspaper reported the British tourists as saying. Many others accused the Swiss authorities of ‘pressurizing’ the UK citizens to quarantine and imposition strict movement measures on Brits across several holiday resorts due to the fear of the new variant’s outbreak. 

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