The Chinese government has backed up its survey team and plans to summit Mount Everest this week at a time when the world's tallest peak has been closed to commercial climbers.

China has conducted six major surveys of the mountain locally known as Qomolangma, registering its height at 8,848.13 meters (29,029 feet) in 1975 and 8,844.43 meters (29,017 feet) in 2005.

The official Xinhua News Agency has reported that bad weather forced the team charged with measuring the mountain's current height to return to base camp, but they have since taken up their former position.

As long as the weather holds, the team expects to reach the summit on Friday morning, Xinhua quoted Wang Yongfeng, deputy director of the mountaineering administrative center of the General Administration of Sport, as saying.

Everest straddles the border of China and Nepal and both countries canceled spring climbing to prevent the coronavirus from spreading among expedition teams that typically live for weeks in tightly packed camps at high altitudes with little access to emergency medical help.

China has also taken advantage of the lack of climbers to collect garbage from Everest and other popular climbing peaks.

The absence of climbers this year has caused major hardship among Sherpa guides in Nepal, who have virtually no source of income apart from foreign tourists visiting national parks and high-altitude trekking routes.