British skiers defy quarantine rules in Switzerland as fears of ‘British Virus’ spreads

The onset of the new strain of the coronavirus – dubbed the “British Virus” – has caused panic and alarm throughout Europe and beyond, with many countries barring all travel to and from the UK.

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But the brazen violation of Swiss quarantine rules by a large number of British tourists has underscored the gravity of the threat posed by the “British Virus”.

The scandal centers on the Swiss resort of Verbier where 200 British skiers decided to flee under the cover of darkness in order to avoid Swiss quarantine rules designed to combat the “British Virus”.

Jean-Marc Sandoz, who is communications officer of the Valais municipality of Bagnes, where the Vervier ski resort is located, issued the following statement: “Many of them [British skiers] stayed a day in quarantine before they vanished without trace under the cover of darkness”.

The British skiers reportedly fled to neighboring France where strict quarantine rules in relation to the new coronavirus strain do not yet apply. 

Switzerland imposed a 10-day quarantine backdated to December 14 because of fears of the new coronavirus strain that has established a stranglehold in London and the southeast of England.

The landlocked country – which is hugely popular with British tourists in the winter season – also stopped flights from the UK and South Africa on December 20.

The Swiss health ministry, quoted by the AFP news agency, said on Sunday (December 27) that two cases of the “British Virus” had been detected within Swiss borders, in addition to one in neighboring Liechtenstein.

The poor behavior of the British tourists – who chose to flee as opposed to respect local quarantine rules – has angered local Swiss officials and led to an outpouring of angry condemnation on social media.

The popular freelance travel writer, Mary Novakovich, took to Twitter to imply that British tourists had “trashed” their reputation even more as a result of their brazen disrespect of Swiss laws.

Britain's reputation hasn't been trashed enough this week, so let's add the story of 200 British tourists who had been quarantining in Verbier doing a runner in the middle of the night. Charming. https://t.co/YlPoClcZ4a

— Mary Novakovich (@mary_novakovich) December 27, 2020

Fears of the “British Virus” have led to more than 50 countries – including most EU states – prohibiting travel to and from the UK.

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However, these draconian measures have failed to stop the spread of the new virus variant – which is said to be 70 percent more transmissible – as demonstrated by confirmed infections in Denmark, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and France.

Beyond Europe, there have been confirmed infections in Israel and Australia.  

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