Coronavirus : Monkey runs away with COVID-19 samples in MP; video viral on social platforms

Madhya Pradesh: A viral clip of a monkey snatching the blood sample of COVID-19 patient was circulated on social media platforms. The incident was reported in Madhya Pradesh. The concerned authorities were immediately reported of the incident. 

In Meerut,  a  monkey snatched the blood samples from a lab technician and settled at the top of the tree. The clip was taken outside the medical college whereby; the monkey was reported chewing a white packet that was snatched from the technicians. The packet consisted of blood samples of the patients suffering from the novel coronavirus that was being taken in order for a daily routine checkup. 

“Most of the COVID-19 samples are kept inside the box, unlike these”, said S K Garg, the principal of Lala Lajpat Rai Medical College in Meerut. He also added that the samples were not the throat and mouth swabs but the blood samples of the coronavirus patients.

Sanjay Jha, a journalist took to Twitter to share the recorded clip with the caption “Meerut: Monkey run away with #corona test samples, locals fear the spread of infection. #IndiaFightsCoronavirus”. The samples were recovered later and claimed that there were no damages made. The samples collected were intact and would be retested for the virus. The spread of infection is minimal.

There are several cases of coronavirus being reported in the animals but there have been no reports of the transmission of the novel coronavirus from human to animals.

The lab technicians have been provided with a show-cause notice as instead of informing the concerned authorities, he recorded the video.