A Nepali government official said that many foreign climbers were continuing their attempts to summit Mount Everest despite reports of a Covid-19 outbreak at the base camp of the world's tallest peak.

Mira Acharya, a director at the Department of Tourism that oversees climbing activities in Nepal's mountains, said the government had not received any notice of a Covid-19 outbreak at the Everest base camp and that expeditions were continuing through the climbing season that ends next week.

"Even some climbers whose teams had stopped climbing are continuing their expeditions," she told Reuters without giving any names.