Covid-19 News from Ski Nations of Europe
18th December 2020
Last modified on May 20th, 2021
There are new lockdowns announced in Italy and Austria, travel bans on UK tourists into Switzerland and Sweden announces more rules on facemasks. Resorts in France are opening even though the ski lifts cannot run.
In Austria the government has said the country will enter its third lockdown straight after Christmas.
From 26th December, non-essential shops will be shut and movement outside homes restricted.
Movement will be restricted to purposes such as buying food or taking exercise.
Rules surrounding how and whether to allow outdoor sports, including skiing, will be left for local authorities to determine.
We will update you about ski resorts when details become clearer.
“We have decided that we will spend Christmas as planned, but then tighten the measures again,” said the Austrian Chancellor, Sebastian Kurz.
The measures were “the only possible way to re-open tourism, cultural life, restaurants and cafes during the pandemic and at the same time avoid numbers exploding again,” he said.
Italy has imposed a nationwide lockdown for much of the Christmas and New Year period.
Italians will only be allowed to travel for work, health or emergency reasons between 24-27 December, 31 December – 3 January, and 5-6 January.
The Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, said it was “not an easy decision”.
“Our experts were seriously worried that there would be a jump in cases over Christmas… We therefore had to act,” he said in a news conference.
Italy has recorded the highest Covid death toll in Europe, with close to 68,000 fatalities.
In Sweden the government is recommending wearing face masks on public transport during the rush hour.
This reverses its earlier Covid guidance and some say the decision should have been taken earlier.
The country had previously been one of only a few nations not to recommend masks in public outside of healthcare settings.
It will also cut from the current eight to four per table the number of people sitting together in restaurants.
There is a ban on alcohol sales after 20:00.
There is a growing acknowledgement that Sweden’s policy of no lockdown has contributed to a significantly higher number of deaths than its Scandinavian neighbours.
“We have a very serious situation,” the Sweden Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven, warned.
He said the virus was “going in the wrong direction”.
We have reported on Switzerland with its developments in the past 24-hours:
The figures do not look good in Switzerland compared to its first wave, where it was judged to have done well.
In France resorts are opening this weekend even though the lifts are not open.
They are offering other activities on snow.
Here at PlanetSKI we will be updating this article as developments occur in the ski nations of Europe.
Do check back…
