Britons in quarantine flee Swiss ski resort

Hundreds of British tourists forced into quarantine in the Swiss ski resort of Verbier fled in the night rather than seeing their holidays go downhill, the local municipality said on Sunday.

Around 200 of the 420 or so affected British tourists in the luxury Alpine ski station quit under the cover of darkness, the SonntagsZeitung newspaper reported.

Switzerland’s ski resorts were set to boom with snow-seeking British tourists — but a flight ban due to the new COVID-19 variant raging in England put those plans on ice.

The drastic ruling by the Swiss government also included a 10-day retroactive quarantine for anyone who arrived from Britain since December 14, following the discovery of a new variant of the coronavirus which experts fear spreads more quickly.

Some of the British tourists affected in Verbier left immediately, while others stuck it out for a bit before quitting.

“Many of them stayed in quarantine for a day before they set off unnoticed under the cover of darkness,” Jean-Marc Sandoz, spokesman for the wider Bagnes municipality, told SZ.

He called the whole situation “the worst week our community has ever experienced.”

British tourists normally make up 21 percent of the Verbier clientele, and most start pouring in just after Christmas.

Two cases of the new coronavirus variant have been detected in Switzerland and one in neighboring Liechtenstein, according to the Swiss health ministry on Sunday.