Coronavirus reaches highest peak on earth

According to BBC, the officials at base camp have confirmed that they have received reports of 17 confirmed coronavirus cases from Kathmandu hospitals, where a number of mountaineers from the base camp and higher camps were admitted to be treated.

The rising number of cases has raised fears of a serious outbreak.

The hospital sources have also confirmed that most of the patients who had arrived from the base camp were diagnosed with coronavirus.

Moreover, the doctors at the base camp are saying that people are displaying coronavirus-like symptoms, such as high-grade fever, cough and fatigue. Mountaineers and officials at the Everest base camp also complained of lack of coronavirus testing facility.

"Almost all climbers get a cough here, but we are seeing people with other symptoms, and we are making sure that they stay in isolation," said a doctor.

Meanwhile, the government of Nepal has not commented over the issue which has raised further concerns as they are downplaying the extent of the situation in fear that increasing pressure may result in closure of mountain expeditions, which is a major source of revenue for the Nepalese government.

"None of the Covid cases at Everest base camp have been reported so far to the Ministry of Tourism," said Prem Subedi, the under-secretary at Nepal's Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation.

The authorities have maintained that climbers undergo coronavirus tests before they are sent to the base camps, but the number of cases are raising alarms of a possible outbreak at the world’s highest peak.

On the other hand, the number of coronavirus cases have also increased sharply in Nepal in the last two weeks.