Austrian govt being sued after tourists caught Covid in ski resort
The Austrian government is being sued for allegedly failing to lockdown a ski resort fast enough at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Thousands of tourists and hundreds of locals are believed to have caught the virus in Ischgl, leading to at least 32 deaths.
A number of infections were allegedly picked up in one of the lively resort’s apres-ski bars.
Positive tests from the Tyrolean resort were recorded on 7 March but the order to shut down Ischgl wasn’t given until 13 March. The Austrian public health body later said there had been cases in the resort as early as 5 February.
Four lawsuits seeking up to €100,000 in damages have been filed by a private consumer watchdog called the Verbraucherschutzverein or VSV (Consumer Protection Association). It warned other lawsuits will follow.
The VSV says the province of Tyrol reacted too slowly, mishandled the response and possibly buckled to pressure from the tourism sector to not act rapidly, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Officials from Tyrol have said they responded appropriately given what was known at the time.
The VSV says it has been contacted by 6,170 people from 40 countries, including the UK. Around 80% of them tested positive for the virus after returning from Ischgl and at least 32 people from the resort cluster have died, AP news agency reported.
Roughly 1,000 of those are being represented by the watchdog.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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