COVID-19 reaches Mount Everest and experts warn of possible "superspreader" event
COVID-19 knows no bounds, reaching the farthest ends of the Earth including Mount Everest.
Details: As the spring climbing season kicks off, officials warn the world's highest peak could serve as a setting for a "superspreader event" due to crowded camps filled with travelers and a steady rotation of locals assisting the climbing teams.
- Medical experts have recently confirmed the first coronavirus cases among climbers, per the New York Times.
Catch up quick: The warnings, first reported by Outside Magazine, come as Nepal's neighbor, India, battles record daily surges of the novel coronavirus. India's health ministry confirmed 314,835 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, taking the country's tally to nearly 16 million infections since the start of the pandemic.
Be smart: A COVID outbreak in the punishing environment could be particularly dangerous, as Outside reported.
- “Even a small cut on your finger doesn’t heal until you get back down to an oxygen-rich environment," Outside's Everest correspondent Alan Arnette told the publication in 2020.