COVID-19: Monkeys Escape With Blood Samples

Report says a troop of monkeys in India attacked a medical official and escaped with blood samples of patients who had tested positive for the novel Coronavirus.

It was gathered that, the attack occurred this week when a laboratory technician was walking in the campus of a state-run medical college in Meerut, 460 km (285 miles) north of Lucknow, capital of Uttar Pradesh State.

Dr S. K. Garg, a top official said “Monkeys grabbed and fled with the blood samples of four COVID-19 patients who are undergoing treatment … we had to take their blood samples again."

Authorities said they were not clear if the monkeys had spilled the blood samples, but people living near the leafy campus feared further spread of the virus if the monkeys carried the samples into residential areas.

Garg said it was not clear if the monkeys could contract the coronavirus if they came into contact with infected blood.

“No evidence has been found that monkeys can contract the infection,” Garg told Reuters. (Reuters/NAN)