KATHMANDU: Nepal on Friday suspended permits to scale Mount Everest over the coronavirus outbreak threats, closing off the Earth’s highest mountain a day after China barred entrance from its side.
According to Minister for Culture Tourism and Civil Aviation Yogesh Bhattarai, Nepal has wrapped up mountaineering on all mountains in the country and stopped giving tourist visas as precautionary measures in the wake of coronavirus.
Yogesh Bhattarai further said the authorities have decided to bring a close all spring trips and scrap consents for the time being.
He said decision can be reviewed after analyzing the global situation regarding coronavirus outbreak over the coming month, Bhattarai added. The Himalayan state earns millions of dollars a year from Everest permits to mountaineers.
In the last year 2019, according to the government of Nepal, more than 785 people summit Everest, 644 of them from Nepal and 241 from the northern flank in Tibet.
The traffic-clogged season saw 11 deaths on the peaks, with at least four blamed on overfilling. Mount Everest is Earth’s highest mountain above sea level, attracts a huge number of mountaineers from across the globe.
According to the minister for health, Nepal has so far reported only one case of coronavirus, however, the government taking all possible steps to curb the spared of the diseases.
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