Local authorities said there would be some leniency for domestic and international tourists, who were able to provide a negative PCR result at one of two facilities in Khumbu Pasanglhamu. Those testing positive would have to isolate at a facility, at their own cost.
However tour operators and trekkers say this is, in effect, a vaccine mandate for travellers given the scarcity of PCR tests.
Mountaineer Kraig Beker said that vaccines were the only way to open up Everest to tourists safely, writing for The Adventure Blog.
Becker said that "getting a PCR test in the Khumbu is likely to prove very challenging" and that tour operators should be checking that their clients are fully vaccinated.
Some services in the region have already begun asking for proof of vaccination.
In August, Lukla Airport began asking airlines to provide proof of vaccination or negative test results for all passengers. Thousands of international tourists pass through the airport each year, as the main gateway to the Everest region.
Covid in Khumbu: Porters and climbers hike disease into the mountains
In April the Nepalese/New Zealand charity, Himalayan Trust was involved in delivering PCR testing kits and PPE masks to the region.
Solukhumbu, which largely escaped the first wave, was caught up by Covid-19 cases brought by mountaineers, said CEO Mingma Norbu Sherpa.
"The news coming from the Khumbu and especially Everest Base Camp is especially troubling," he said.
In spite of the ongoing pandemic, there were over 400 permits issued to Everest mountaineers this summer - a new record.
Chair or the Trust, Peter Hillary told the Herald that the permit numbers do not reflect the vast number of seasonal workers who arrive in the mountains in summer.
"It is not just foreign climbers, it is the thousands of low country porters that come up through the mountains," he said.
In an area which had previously seen very few cases, the numbers spiked with climbing season. Workers in the Trust's projects have family members who have been affected and died from the outbreak, says Hillary.
"Trekking has collapsed but on the mountaineering side, there still are some fairly energetic participants.
"They're a very driven group of people. They are prepared to factor Covid into the already not insubstantial risks."
Nepal has seen a new surge in Covid cases and the arrival of the Delta variant bring the total to 771000. However, the Khumbu is supposedly better protected by its remoteness and a fast vaccine role out.
According to Khumbu Pasanglhamu Rural Municipality of Solukhumbu the inoculation rate is 98% of all locals above age 18, compared to a national average of just 17 per cent.
While this number seems high, Hillary says vaccine donations have been prioritised in the Himalayan border with China.
"The majority of people up there think it's a very good thing to get. There's not the conspiratorial thinking or hesitancy we've seen in some countries."
They're aware that expeditions will return next spring, whatever the state of Covid.
