Nepal is making a royal exception to its coronavirus ban on foreign arrivals, with a mountaineering team including a Bahrain prince set to tackle two major peaks.

The Himalayan country shut its borders in March including grounding international flights just ahead of the busy spring season, devastating the local tourism sector.

The 18-member party were given special permission to enter Nepal to climb the 8,163-metre (26,781-feet) Mount Manaslu and the 6,119-metre (20,075-feet) Lobuche.