Lukas Furtenbach, the professional Austrian mountain guide who runs the Our Lady’s Peak climb, said on 22 May that at least 100 climbers and staff members on the team that climbed Our Lady’s Peak had been infected with Wuhan pneumonia (novel coronavirus, Covid-19), the first time the Nepalese government has denied that a cluster of infections is occurring on the world’s highest peak. A full assessment of the outbreak at the mountaineering mecca is available.
I think I have positive test results based on all the confirmed cases that we now know of, including confirmation from multiple sources such as (rescue) pilots, insurance providers, doctors and expedition leaders,” said Furtenbach, who is based in Kathmandu, Nepal, the Associated Press reported on 22 June…. At least 100 people tested positive at the base camp, and the number is maybe as high as 150 or 200,” he said, adding that it is clear that there are many cases of infection at the base camp because he has witnessed sick people and heard coughing sounds coming from inside the tents.
Wurtembach’s climbing group decided to pull out last week after one of its foreign guides and six Nepali Sherpa guides tested positive for the new coronavirus, the only major company so far to run a climbing group on Our Lady of the Mountains to suspend a climbing trip because of the outbreak.
Other climbing groups have not yet announced cases of infection within their groups, and several climbers have previously tested positive after being brought down from base camp. Furtenbach said many climbing groups on the mountain did not bring testing agents, and his team had assisted other teams with testing before evacuating and detected two cases of infected people.
This year, a total of 408 foreign climbers were issued permits to climb Our Lady of Mountains this season, plus hundreds of Sherpa guides and logistical staff, stationed at base camp since April, most of whom are at base camp, waiting for weather conditions to permit an assault on the summit next week.
Nepalese government authorities denied that there are any “active cases” among the climbers and staff at the base camp, and officials have yet to comment on this latest claim on the 22nd.
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