A lab technician carrying blood samples from COVID-19 patients was attacked by a group of monkeys, who snatched the samples and ran away in north Indian city of Meerut on Friday.
The technician was returning with the samples of three people suspected of having COVID-19 at Meerut Medical College in Uttar Pradesh. While fresh samples of the patients were collected, the video shows monkeys on a tree chewing the sample collection kits.
The incident has created fear and panic among the city's residents as they allege that COVID-19 could be spread by monkeys if they carry the test samples to nearby residential areas.
Monkeys are not immune from the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, and some have speculated that there is a risk of transmission of the infection from humans to monkeys.