China demarcates the border at the top of Mount Everest

At the top of Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the world, China will create a ‘demarcation line’. In this way, it wants to avoid any risk of contamination with Covid-19 by mountain climbers coming from Nepal. The news agency New China has reported this.

China was the first country to deal with the corona pandemic at the end of 2019. Since the spring of 2020, Beijing has been largely under the control of the virus, yet authorities are wary of importing infections from abroad.

Since March last year, China has all but closed its borders and now wants to expand its surveillance of the snowy peak of the Roof of the World, which it shares with Nepal at an altitude of 8,848 meters.

Mountain guides will create a ‘demarcation line’ on top of Everest before alpinists are allowed to conquer the world’s highest mountain from the Chinese side.

On the Nepalese side of Everest, there have been more than 30 medical evacuations since the start of the climbing season, as some mountaineers were found to be infected with the coronavirus.

Nepal is currently being hit hard by a second wave of the coronavirus, while the country in the Himalayas is looking to revive its tourism after a season that largely collapsed in 2020.