A chic hotel in the Italian Alps is suing China’s Health Ministry for damages, accusing it of not sharing information on Covid-19 early enough. The Mirror reports a subpoena against the Health Ministry of China was issued to a court in Belluno on behalf of The De La Poste Hotel.

The hotel is located in the town of Cortina d’Ampezzo, which was badly ravaged by the coronavirus. The lawsuit seeks damages stemming from the closure of the hotel and all the services linked with it on March 12th when Italy went into lockdown. The hotel was fully booked for ski season, including for Carnival and Easter.

“In March there was a prediction by the Association of Hotels that all the other tourist places in Cortina d’Ampezzo and its surroundings would be full, also taking into account the celebration of the Ski World Cup Finals scheduled for between 18th and 22nd March 2020. An early and sudden closure that had disastrous consequences also led to the dismissal of all hotel staff and the cancellation of the contracts of providers, as happened in other places in Ampezzo.”

The hotel’s lawyer said that immaterial damage needs to included as well:

“If the news from China had arrived on time, the Italian government would have decided the protection measures on time.”

The lawsuit seeks clarity on why China’s Health Ministry did not notify the WHO immediately about the spread of the virus and its lethal effects between November and December 2019. We will be sure to update this story as more details are made available.

image from hoteldelapostecortina FB

 

 

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