A monkey attacked a lab technician in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut Medical College and Hospital and dashed off with blood samples of three coronavirus patients that were stored in vials. A video of the incident has since gone viral on social networking forums and shows the monkey sitting atop a tree inside the hospital premises while consuming what has appeared to be surgical gloves. The incident had taken place three days back and hospital authorities have issued a statement clarifying that the samples are not throat swabs that confirm whether a person is COVID-19 positive or not, but regular blood samples taken from patients who were already infected and undergoing treatment.

Dr SK Garg, principal of Meerut Medical College and Hospital, in his statement said, "These were not COVID test samples, but blood samples from COVID patients meant for routine tests. The man from whom the samples were snatched said fresh samples have been collected,". He added, "Coronavirus samples are stored and transported in cold chain boxes, not in the open,", pointing out that throat swab samples getting stolen was not a possibility while assuring people living in the vicinity of the hospital need not worry about the disease spreading further nor them getting affected as a result. He further went on to state that there is no conclusive scientific study to date that shows monkeys can get infected by coronavirus from humans.

Watch Dr SK Garg speak about the incident and reassure people not to worry about the spread of the coronavirus in the vicinity near the hospital:

#WATCH Meerut: A troop of monkeys took away blood samples of some patients collected for routine tests, from lab technicians at Meerut Medical College, today. SK Garg, Principal, Meerut Medical College says,"Samples taken away by monkeys do not include #COVID19 swab test samples" pic.twitter.com/GKM1J2sjIC

— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 29, 2020