05/23/2021 11:45 AM
Clarín.com
World
Updated 05/23/2021 11:45 AM
At least
100 climbers and support personnel
were infected with coronavirus on Mount Everest, according to a specialized guide.
This is the first projection released after the Nepalese authorities denied that the disease had reached the highest peak in the world.
Austrian
Lukas Furtenbach
, who last week became the only guide to suspend his Everest expedition as a precaution against the coronavirus, said on Saturday that
one of his foreign guides and six Nepalese Sherpas tested positive
.
"I think with all the confirmed cases that we know about now - confirmed with (rescue) pilots, insurers, doctors, expedition leaders - I have the
positive evidence to prove it,
'' Furtenbach told the AP agency in Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal. .
"We have at least 100 people who have tested positive for COVID in the base camp, and the numbers
could be between 150 and 200
," he added.
Mountain guide Lukas Furtenbach claims that there were at least 100 coronavirus infections on Everest.
Photo: AP
He claimed that many cases were evident at Everest base camp because he saw sick people and
heard them coughing
inside their tents.
A total of 408 foreigners received permits to climb Everest this season with the assistance of hundreds of Sherpas and support personnel who had been stationed at the base camp since April.
Nepalese mountaineering authorities have denied the existence of any active cases of covid-19 this season among climbers and support personnel at all base camps in the Himalayas.
Mountaineering in the region was suspended last year due to the pandemic.
Nepalese authorities were not available on Saturday for comment on the matter.
More than 400 climbers were allowed to climb Everest this season.
Photo: AP
Other expeditions have not announced cases of covid-19 among their members or staff.
Several climbers tested positive after being
removed from base camp on Everest.
Furtenbach said most teams
did not carry
coronavirus test
kits
and that before theirs was withdrawn they helped run tests and confirmed two cases.
Most teams remain at base camp waiting for clear weather to try to reach the summit next week before the climbing season concludes at the end of the month, Furtenbach said.
At the end of April, a Norwegian climber became the first positive case at Everest base camp.
He was transferred by helicopter to Kathmandu, where he was treated and later returned to his country.
Nepal reported 8,607 new infections and 177 deaths on Friday for a cumulative total of 497,000 cases and 6,024 deaths.
Nepal registers an increase in infections and deaths from coronavirus.
China last week canceled the ascent from its flank to Mount Everest for fear of a spread of the coronavirus from the Nepalese side.
DD
Look also
Coronavirus: Argentina surpassed the United States and is the third country with the most daily infections worldwide
Coronavirus: Israel issued a "severe warning" so that its citizens do not travel to Argentina
New restrictions: strong decrease in circulation in the City on the first day of strict confinement