China is sending a team to the summit of Mount Everest to set up “a line of separation” in order to prevent mountaineers ascending the peak from COVID-hit Nepal from mingling with those climbing from the Tibetan side, Chinese state media confirmed on Sunday.
State-owned Xinhua news agency reported that 21 Chinese nationals were already en route to the summit from the Tibetan side, citing the head of Tibet’s sports bureau.
The COVID-19 situations between Nepal and China could not be more different. On May 9, Nepal reported 8,777 fresh infections taking its national tally to 394,667. The country’s death toll also rose to 3,720 on the back of 78 new casualties.
The 88,160 active cases (as reported on May 9) is representative of an alarming surge in the country characterised by a 1200 per cent rise in COVID-19 infection over a matter of just a handful of weeks. It was just last month that the 31-million strong Himalayan nation was recording only 100 cases a day. Now, it is reporting around 20 cases per 100,000 people per day – an escalation of an outbreak that has also seen Prime Minister KP Oli Sharma lose a vote of confidence in the country’s parliament.
However, Mainland China, where the virus originated in December 2019, has, largely, succeeded in containing COVID-19. On May 8, it reported just 12 new COVID-19 cases, all of which were overseas travellers. That figure of 12 was, in fact, up from the seven it reported a day earlier.
As such, on the face of it, it does appear reasonable that China would want to reduce the intermingling of mountaineers arriving at Mount Everest’s summit from the Nepal side with those doing so from the Tibetan side.
This argument is also bolstered by reports of several COVID-19 infections being discovered at the Everest base camp on the Nepal side since late April. Those reports, however, have not led Nepal, currently struggling to revive its tourism economy, to put an end to the spring climbing season that began in April and ends in June just before the monsoon rains begin.
But how China manages to create this separation line remains unclear. Mount Everest’s summit, it goes without saying, is one of the most dangerous and inhospitable locations, and what’s more, is hardly the size of a dining table. As per some reports, it can only accommodate around half a dozen people at any given time.
Another reason why China’s plans have flummoxed many is that it is highly unlikely that someone who has been infected with COVID-19 will be able to make his/her way to the summit of the world’s tallest mountain – an arduous journey that ultimately involves entering into the so-called death zone where oxygen levels are dangerously low.
Chinese state media have also provided no indication of how the 21 Chinese mountaineers plan to enforce the separation which, presumably, would require them to remain in the perilous territory for protracted periods of time. Given that China is yet to allow any foreign travellers to climb from the Tibetan side, experts have also questioned if the entire endeavour is even necessary.
