Lauberhorn Racers Cancelled, Moved to Kitzbuhel

Interesting. From that press release it does look like they're sure its him/her and coming from Britain and it being the English variant the evidence does clearly seem to point to that. That said could a good lawyer argue that it might have been one of the hotel staff who picked it up somewhere else and gave it to the other staff and the British tourist? I know that's less likely and sorry if that scenario is discussed and rejected in the Youtube video which I've not looked at yet. You would assume they are certain from the press release, otherwise they might be laying themselves open to accusations of slander I suppose, if it's not absolutely certain - although they don't name the person involved so could maybe backtrack before that if it did turn out to be not 100% certain.

No I don't have any evidence at all, this is just hearsay from someone in resort and I don't have a second source. I did look at the video, but not sure where within the 80 minutes the section you're referring to is.

The pdf is interesting though and could fit in with the timeline. As far as I can see within that it doesn't suggest that the 'tourist from the UK' did not quarantine, although I do recall this was mentioned elsewhere. I do know that many nationalities were in resort over the Christmas period.

It may well be that there is a UK individual responsible and that they did break quarantine, but it's useful to recall that the story of 'Hundreds of Brits fleeing Verbier' turned out to be a media invention:
https://twitter.com/skipedia/status/1347937460861468672

I wonder if the swiss authorities will go after him or her for breaking quarantine rules and causing massive upset to the biggest ski even held in Switzerland but have been a big money loss for them in terms of publicity tv rights etc and world wide audience. I bet the Austrians in Kitzbuhel are quietly pleased as they hate the Swiss especially Didier Cuche beating Franz Klammer's record when he won it for the 5th time. I was priviledged to share a gondola with him at the Ski World Championships in Schladming when he wore traditional ski outfit and ski's on his retirement tour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1b0Le9RGpQM
Just hope they do not cancel the downhills next week shame I can't attend but will be watching on the telly.

I wonder if the so-called UK variant is because we discovered it through advanced testing rather than it actually originating in the UK.
But, sure, the net result is that UK based Brits arent skiing this season.

J2SkiNews, with few exceptions Switzerland's strict privacy laws prevent the media from publishing the names of people suspected, accused and convicted of committing criminal offences.

Iainm, the exchange between a journalist and Linda Nartey about the British tourist in Wengen starts at 1:17:15. The Corona virus press conferences are also recorded in live tickers, the quote I posted is a translation of a quote that appeared in one of the tickers.

The information I provided in my previous posts is from official sources, Linda Nartey is a high ranking official https://www.gef.be.ch/gef/de/index/direktion/organisation/kaza.html the press release was issued by her department https://www.gef.be.ch/gef/de/index/direktion/organisation/kaza/aktuell.meldungNeu.html/portal/de/meldungen/mm/2021/01/20210112_1337_informationen_fuerdiebevoelkerungunddiegaestevonwengenundumgebun the link to the pdf is at the bottom of the page, it cannot be compared with what appeared in the press about the supposed British exodus from Verbier.

No official information about the situation in Valais was published until 30 December, when the Valais Cantonal Police issued a press report https://www.policevalais.ch/communiques-pour-les-medias/valais-bilan-intermediaire-de-lengagement-des-forces-de-police-durant-les-fetes-de-fin-dannee/ The 12 people found to have not complied with the quarantine order have now been reported to the public prosecutor.

Further details about the incident in Wengen have now been reported in the Swiss press, see the last section in this article: https://www.bluewin.ch/de/news/schweiz/wengen-forscht-nach-der-britischen-virus-mutation-536357.html

"Britischer Tourist hielt sich nicht an Quarantäneregeln……" British tourist did not comply with quarantine rules

It is highly probable that all 70 infections in Wengen were directly or indirectly caused by a British tourist. He is said to be a 50 year old man who checked into the Hotel Victoria-Lauberhorn shortly before Christmas and unknowingly spread the mutated pathogen in the ski resort.

However, the Briton is also said not to have immediately complied with the quarantine regulations that applied to him. According to the "Tages-Anzeiger", the man left his room and ate in the hotel restaurant. It was only after he tested positive on 27 December that he remained in quarantine. But before that, he changed hotels once more. The virus reached the Wengen ski club via one of the hotel employees or his daughter.

Further measures in Wengen depend on the results from the test centre. Up to 100 rapid tests per hour are to be carried out for a fortnight. Should the numbers continue to explode, Nartey said the closure of the ski slopes or even a curfew would be conceivable.

Sonofapreacher,the B.1.1.7 variant was first identified in England on 20 September 2020, it quickly became the dominant SARS-CoV-2 variant circulating in England. I don't think there is much doubt about where it originated. It may well become the dominant variant circulating in other countries, in which case even more rigorous mitigation measures will have to be put in place.

Really annoying we could have had a brit win a FIS event for the first time, Dave Ryding finished 7th today at Flachau but had it been held at Kitzbuhel his favourite run on the tour he might have won with our local ski hero Marcel Hirsher retired will watch ski sunday to see what they have to say about it if anything.

Thanks as always Swingbeep for detailed and logical explanation on the unfortunate Wengen events. I suppose the only question I have, which might be for the court case, if there is one, is, whilst ultimate responsibility clearly lies with the British tourist, you wonder why the hotel restaurant served him and didn't insist he followed the quarantine rules?

Your welcome J2SkiNews. It does seem strange, the only reason I can think of is that the Hotel Victoria-Lauberhorn is quite large, it has 120 rooms and 3 restaurants that in normal times seat 420 people. Maybe they didn't notice that he left his room.

Also if you look at the hotel's COVID-19 action plan there is no mention of a procedure for quarantining a guest. There is also no mention of quarantine in the COVID-19 hygiene and protection concepts designed by the hotel industries trade association HotellerieSuisse on which their plan based. It is therefore possible that they didn't have had a procedure in place for quarantining a guest.