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Climbing one of the world’s most famed mountains is perhaps the fondest dream of many travellers, however, this year Japan’s iconic Mt Fuji will remain closed for travellers amid Coronavirus outbreak. By Manya Saini
If you were looking forward to taking advantage of the climbing season fast approaching in Japan, then we have some bad news for you. Unfortunately, your plan will need to wait for now. The local officials in charge of maintaining the trails have announced that the mountain will remain shut for travellers throughout the summer season due to the outbreak of the pandemic.
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The announcement was made by Shizuoka Prefecture, this week, which manages three of the four trails leading to the peak. Earlier, the management of the fourth trail route had made similar intentions of keeping the route closed.
The statement by Shizouka has said the decision comes in the wake of its inability to “guarantee the safety of the climbers.” Further, as per reports, Yoshinari Nushida, the chief of the Mount Fuji public work office has intimated that mountain lodges and first-aid centres in the area will remain closed to curb the spread of the virus.
The decision to close the mountain for climbers is a first in recorded memory. The last time an announcement to this effect was made back in the 1960s. According to the data of Japan’s Environment Ministry, approximately 236,000 travellers came to climb the mountain last year.
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Mount Fuji is located about 130 km from the west of Tokyo and is 12,388-feet high. The trails promise once-in-a-lifetime adventure to trekkers, attracting them in thousands through the climbing season from July to September.
Japan had lifted its lockdown restrictions after the state of emergency was called off last Thursday for most of the regions in the country. The recorded cases in the country have been 16,367 with 768 people succumbing to the virus as of now. There has been a sharp drop to single digits in the new cases emerging in the country.
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