EVEREST - Nepal Government denial, cover-up

Many evacuations of climbers with Covid symptoms as doctors are not being allowed by the government to do PCR testing at EBC.

Meanwhile, Nepal had 7000 new covid cases yesterday and announced the suspension of all international flights.

@arnette.alan “Nepal tourism officials continue to deny there are any problems at base camp other than one person who had pneumonia. The guides, both foreign and domestic, are posting only climbing updates with no mention of the virus. This includes those who are well-known to have multiple cases within their teams and some who have been evacuated.”

Climbers say the situation as a “total shitstorm”, with some suggesting up to 30 cases had so far been identified despite the fact that the Nepal Mountaineering Association has admitted only four confirmed Covid cases so far this season – three climbers and one local guide.

“I have taken a helicopter out of EBC back to Kathmandu after 1 day,” Gina Marie Han-Lee, a climber from New York, wrote on Facebook on 29 April. “Once I was in the hospital a Covid test confirmed I was positive and had pneumonia."

British climber, Steve Harris, was diagnosed initially with high-altitude pulmonary edema at EBC before being diagnosed with Covid.

“I wasn’t asked about or offered a Covid test. After four days in Namche [where he was initially taken], I was medivaced by helicopter to hospital in Kathmandu,” he told the Daily Mail, “where I was tested and confirmed positive for Covid-19 and pneumonia and spent a week in intensive care.

Meanwhile on Dhaulagiri:

"Five climbers including a foreigner were brought to Kathmandu yesterday while nine more - four foreigners and five Sherpas - will be evacuated today after some of them were tested positive during the antigen and RDT tests carried out by a medical team of Nepal Army stationed at base camp, sources said." Some said up to 30% of climbers there have Covid.

When will the Department of Tourism do their job and protect their citizens? Why are they actively lying and denying the truth?