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A popular hotel in the Italian Alps is suing China’s Health Ministry for damages after blaming the country for not sharing information on Covid-19 early enough.

A subpoena against the Health Ministry of China has been presented to a court in Belluno, which is in the same region as the De La Poste hotel.

The hotel sits in the town of Cortina d’Ampezzo, in the northern Italian region of Veneto, which was badly hit by coronavirus.

The lawsuit states that the damage caused to the hotel because of the closure of the hotel and all the services linked with it on March 12 when Italy went into lockdown should be determined immediately.

Reports state the hotel was fully booked for ski season, including for Carnival and Easter.

(Image: AFP via Getty Images)

The document says: “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 lawyer said that immaterial damage needs to be added to the list too, adding: “If the news from China had arrived on time, the Italian government would have decided the protection measures on time.”

(Image: Getty Images) (Image: Xinhua/Shutterstock)

The document says the responsibility for China’s Health Ministry not having informed the WHO immediately about the spread of the virus and its lethal effects between November and December 2019 needed to be determined, adding the lack of control measures in Chinese measures needed to be investigated.

According to the latest figures from the Johns Hopkins University, Italy has registered 181,228 cases of Covid-19 and 24,114 deaths.

In the USA the state of Missouri is likewise suing China for 'not doing enough' to stop the spread of coronavirus.

The state’s Republican attorney general says Beijing ‘lied to the world’ about the danger and is suing for suffering and economic losses.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court by the state’s top lawyer, alleges Chinese officials are “responsible for the enormous death, suffering, and economic losses they inflicted on the world, including Missourians”.