MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th December, 2020) Switzerland and Italy have given the green light to the Tour de Ski, a stage of the International Ski Federation's (FIS) World Cup, as its organizers have met all requirements introduced amid the pandemic, the International Ski Federation (FIS) said on Tuesday.
In early December, Finland, Norway and Sweden decided not to participate in the FIS cross-country world cup events that will be held on December 12-13 in Switzerland and on December 19-20 in Germany due to the concerns about risk of exposure to COVID-19. The countries urged the FIS to reduce the number of the events. However, FIS Cross-Country Race Director Pierre Mignerey said the federation has no plans to cancel the events.
"The FIS Tour de Ski remains as scheduled and was given green light as all health prevention plans of the local organizers ... were approved by the respective governments," the statement, published on the FIS site, read.
Mignerey stressed that the organizing committees of the Tour de Ski spared no effort to ensure that the event would be safe.
"All stakeholders have the responsibility to keep the World Cup stage a safe place. Overall, the organizing committees have done extraordinary work to fulfill special needs and [provide] a healthy work environment for the World Cup family," Mignerey said.
According to the schedule published by the FIS, the Tour de Ski will be held from 1-10 January in the eastern Swiss region of Val Mustair, as well as in the northern Italian region of Toblach and valley of Fiemme.
According to Johns Hopkins University, Italy has confirmed 13,679 new cases of the coronavirus over the past 24 hours, with the total number of infections reaching 1,742,557. Switzerland has registered 9,809 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, with the total number of infections at 354,306.
