China draws a line on Mount Everest to prevent Covid-19

China’s national media said it would set up a “divider” at the summit of Mount Everest to prevent climbers on the Nepali side from mixing with climbers on the Chinese side.

China drew a line on Mount Everest to prevent Covid-19. Photo: NatGeo Reuters news agency, citing Chinese national media, said so on May 9. According to Beijing, it is a precautionary measure. Everest base camp on the Nepal side was hit by a spike in Covid-19 infections in late April. The Nepal government, which lacks tourism revenue, has yet to cancel spring climbing, which usually starts in April and lasts until early June, before the monsoon. It is not immediately clear how the upper boundary will be established on the small, dangerous, hard-to-navigate mountaintop and about the size of a dining table. A small group of climbing guides in Tibet will climb Everest and set up a divider at the summit to prevent any contact between climbers on both sides of the peak, Xinhua reported. said the head of the Tibet Sports Authority. A group of 21 Chinese nationals were on their way to Mount Everest on the Tibetan side, Xinhua reported. The group of Tibetan guides will set up a divider before the group of 21 arrives. It is not clear whether the Tibetan guides were the ones enforcing the separation, or whether they stayed in the so-called “death zone”, where many people have died due to lack of oxygen, to maintain this boundary no. The summit of the 8,848m-high Mount Everest is a small snow mound, with only enough space for half a dozen climbers and guides to be on it at the same time. China has not allowed any foreign climbers to climb the mountain from the Tibetan side since the Covid-19 outbreak last year due to concerns about contagion. Tourists in the scenic Everest region in Tibet are also prohibited from visiting the base camp on the Tibetan side.