Skiers walk in the Alpine resort of Verbier, well known by British ski holiday makers, on Dec 22, 2020. (PHOTO / AFP)

ZURICH - Hundreds of Britons have fled quarantine in the Swiss ski resort of Verbier, with the country’s health minister attributing the exodus to an “impossible situation” where authorities moved at short-notice to contain a new variant of the coronavirus.

On Dec 21, the Swiss government ordered people who had arrived from the United Kingdom and South Africa since Dec 14 to undergo a 10-day quarantine to prevent the spread of more contagious variants of the coronavirus. It also halted flights before allowing them to resume a few days later so stranded visitors could return home.

Swiss media reported on Sunday that about 200 British citizens left Verbier before the end of their quarantine

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Swiss media reported on Sunday that about 200 British citizens left Verbier before the end of their quarantine.

Asked about the run-away tourists, Health Minister Alain Berset told reporters in Basel: “We are aware of that. It is obviously a problem, there was an order to quarantine that has not been respected.”

He said he didn’t know the current whereabouts of the tourists, but suspected that they had gone home.

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“One shouldn’t underestimate what an impossible situation it was,” he said. “We had to decide within hours what to do ... That things don’t work perfectly in such a situation, that problems surface is a reality we have to live with.”

Simon Wiget, director of Verbier tourism, told Reuters that the sudden quarantine order had placed local authorities in a difficult situation. “It’s our role to pass on information, we’re not the police,” he said.