Kathmandu : A mountaineer who reached the base camp of Mt. Everest, at an altitude of 5,364 meter, has been suspected of having contracted the novel coronavirus.

Dr. Suraj Shrestha, a physician currently stationed at the health camp of the Himalayan Rescue Association set up at the base camp, informed that a mountaineer from Norway who was brought back to Kathmandu after he fell seriously ill in the base camp has been suspected of infected with the virus.

PCR test of the swab of the mountaineer was conducted in a hospital in Kathmandu.

Nepal Tourism Board has instructed all in the base camp to be cautious and adopt health safety measures as the hospital has informed it that the mountaineer had pneumonia.

Other members of the expedition team in which the Norwegian mountaineer is associated have also been instructed to go into quarantine for a week.