Monkeys Steal Coronavirus Patient Blood Samples From Lab Tech In India
David Moye
·3-min read
It sounds bananas, but authorities in India say a troop of monkeys attacked a medical official and stole blood samples belonging to patients who had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Earlier this week, a lab technician at a state-run medical college in Meerut was walking across campus when some rhesus macaques converged on him.
The monkeys then snatched away blood samples that the lab tech was carrying that came from four COVID-19 patients who are undergoing treatment, according to Reuters.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing a monkey chewing on one of the sample collection kits while sitting at the top of a tree, according to India.com.
In addition, the monkeys left parts of the stolen kits scattered on the ground, concerning local officials.
Dr. S. K. Garg, an official at the college where the monkey attack occurred, told Reuters he wasn’t sure if the monkeys might contract the coronavirus if they have come into contact with infected blood.
“No evidence has been found that monkeys can contract the infection,” Garg said.
SkyNews reports that since lockdown measures were imposed two months ago in the area, monkeys have been congregating in places that are normally crowded with humans.
However, some observers believe that many of the primates are struggling because the human food they normally consume has been severely reduced.
Naturally, Twitter users went ape for the story.
‼️Just when you thought today couldn’t get any weirder: agang of monkeys attacked a laboratory assistant in #India and escaped with a batch of #coronavirus blood test samples.😳https://t.co/6Bv8GCncdQ
Did anyone have Monkeys attacking lab assistant on their bingo card? i had pigs with AR -15s and Murder Hornets but no Monkeys making off with slide samples 😳https://t.co/lUkrzl7aNZ
A dad-of-two faces a whopping £400,000 repair bill after an ancient castle wall collapsed outside his home. Adam Giagnotti, 42, was shocked when the 40ft-high retaining wall came crashing down following weeks of heavy rain and storms. Tonnes of rubble and mud blocked Reservoir Lane in Worcester following the landslide on February 9. Adam, whose three-bed semi-detached home is above the wall, has been told he is responsible for paying for the repairs and a set of temporary traffic lights. However, his insurance company claim the wall falls outside the boundary of the property so are refusing to pay out.
Pensioners will be just £20 better off in real terms this year after their triple lock increase was all but wiped out by Jeremy Hunt’s stealth tax raid, a leading think tank has said.
What would happen if a nuclear power station in California were hit by a nuclear weapon launched by North Korea? Many people within a nine-mile radius would be vaporised or burnt to death, and the reactor would melt down, causing a lethal rain of radioactive uranium shards. And, in this imagined chain of events, that’s just the beginning. Another missile heads towards Washington DC. Images of a mushroom cloud cause panic on social media. Then again, as the Pulitzer-winning journalist Annie Jacob
Olga Maltseva/ReutersBelarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday appears to have blown a massive hole in Vladimir Putin’s claims that Ukraine may have been behind the horrific terror attack at a concert venue on the outskirts of Moscow last week.ISIS has claimed responsibility for the massacre Friday at the Crocus City Hall in which 139 people were killed. Nevertheless, Putin has attempted to shift blame for the bloodshed to Kyiv— but a major claim that the Russian president cited as ev
Kate Garraway has responded to critics over her third about Derek Draper documentary, insisting that she wants to use her to platform to raise awareness.
Donald Trump has accused Barack Obama of “spitting in the face” of Americans amid reports that the latter former US president has been making secret calls to the White House.
Last year, speakers at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting – the most eminent cancer conference in the world – came with a dire warning.