After some monkey business of simians running away with blood samples of a few patients from the Meerut Medical College here, the Principal of the institution clarified on Friday that the samples did not include those for COVID-19 swab testing.
"They [samples taken away by monkeys] were the samples for other routine tests from COVID-19 patients, not swab test for the virus testing," said S.K. Garg, Principal, and Meerut Medical College.
A video of the incident that has gone viral shows a monkey sitting atop a tree in the college premises and chewing what seems like the kit containing the samples.
The incident took place within the premises of the medical college, when a troop of monkeys snatched the blood samples from lab technicians.
Speaking about the packaging of the test samples, Garg said, "The blood samples are not packaged in boxes. Only coronavirus samples are carried in sealed containers."
The Principal also said whether COVID-19 could be transmitted to monkeys is uncertain. There has been no scientific proof for the same so far.
( With inputs from ANI )