FACTBOX-COVID-19 skiing restrictions across Europe

European skiers are facing a bleak holiday season as countries shut resorts and impose other restrictions to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Some states have called for a continent-wide shut-down. Others have resisted and decided to give people some time on the slopes. Below is an overview of the situation in some of the main skiing centres. AUSTRIA

A third coronavirus lockdown after Christmas that will last until Jan. 18 could mean delaying the reopening of ski resorts set for Dec. 24, several Austrian media outlets reported. SWITZERLAND

Individual cantons remain responsible for their own ski resorts and open for domestic tourism, the Swiss government said on Friday as it ordered all restaurants and recreation centres closed for a month. Ski lifts, trains, gondolas and other enclosed transport are being limited to two-thirds capacity.

The canton of Grisons, home to ski resorts including Davos, has introduced a new mass-testing programme in the hope that this will identify asymptomatic COVID-19 carriers. POLAND

Poland will close hotels and ski slopes during a national quarantine from Dec. 28 till Jan. 17, it said on Thursday. BULGARIA

Health Minister Kostadin Angelov said on Dec. 16 that the government plans to extend its coronavirus restrictions until Jan. 31 with a few exceptions. Under the plan, hotel restaurants will be allowed to reopen as of Jan. 4. This is being seen as an attempt to help ski resorts which have been hit hard by the pandemic. FRANCE

France will let ski resorts reopen on Jan. 7, if the coronavirus situation will allow it, French junior foreign affairs minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said. French authorities said they would make random border checks to deter people from travelling to slopes in Switzerland and Spain.

SPAIN Some ski resorts have reopened, with skiers hitting the slopes of Catalonia after the region bordering France eased coronavirus restrictions that had prevented people leaving their home municipality.

GERMANY Germany had already announced ski lifts as well as tourist hotels, restaurants and bars would be closed until Dec. 20 even before Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a new nationwide lockdown that will be in place - including in ski resorts - until Jan. 10.

Merkel has also been pushing for tougher and longer restrictions across Germany and Europe. GREECE

All slopes and skiing facilities are closed. ITALY

All ski resorts are closed under a tough package of restrictions also including bans on midnight mass and travel between regions over the Christmas period. (Compiled by Elizaveta Gladun, Veronica Snoj, Aida Pelaez-Fernandez and Anait Miridzhanian, Editing by Timothy Heritage)