In a bizzare incident a monkey in Meerut attacked a local lab technician carrying COVID 19 blood samples and snatched them away. A video of the incident went viral which was shot outside a medical college which shows the monkey chewing a white packet that allegedly contained the samples. The lab technician has been sent a show cause notice for lapse in duty and for recording the video instead of informing authorities. The incident has worried the locals who now fear local transmission of the virus from monkeys to humans.
Hospital authorities have admitted to the incident, but clarified that the samples were not throat swabs used to confirm COVID positivity in a person, but regular blood samples taken from already infected patients being treated here. "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," Dr SK Garg, principal of Meerut Medical College and Hospital, said. The doctor further said there is no scientific study which shows the novel coronavirus can spread to monkeys from humans.