Ski resort covered up outbreak for weeks, probe hears

A criminal investigation has been launched in Austria into allegations that an initial coronavirus infection was covered up at a ski resort which has since been identified as a major centre of the European outbreak.

Hundreds of infections in Germany, Iceland, Norway and Denmark have been traced back to the resort of Ischgl in the Tyrolean Alps.

Austrian authorities are already facing questions after it emerged the resort was allowed to remain open for a week after the alarm was raised earlier this month.

But it now appears the outbreak in Ischgl could have been stopped even earlier, after Austrian prosecutors opened an investigation yesterday into charges that the suspected infection was covered up as early as February.