An international expedition has abandoned its attempt to scale Mount Everest, citing risks posed by an increasing number of Covid-19 cases at the base camp, the organisers said.

Lukas Furtenbach, of Austrian expedition organising company Furtenbach Adventures, said his team of climbers from America, Norway, Israel, Germany, Austria, Italy, Luxembourg and Romania were abandoning the climb for safety reasons as the number of Covid-19 infections at the base camp was increasing.

“To climb [...] with these massively increasing coronavirus numbers and risk the lives of our 20 climbers, four mountain guides and 27 Sherpas carelessly, would be irresponsible,” Furtenbach said in a statement.