The north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh has ordered an inquiry after a troop of monkeys attacked a lab assistant at the Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College and Hospital and stole suspected Covid-19 blood samples.
According to CNN, the lab assistant was working at a Covid-19 facility and was carrying blood samples that were due to be tested when the monkeys attacked the assistant and ran off with the sample box containing blood samples.
According to the head of the Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College and Hospital, blood samples were taken from people who had tested positive for Covid-19.
The monkeys are believed to have then climbed up into trees nearby and threw the samples away after chewing the packets.
Dr Dheeraj Baliyan, medical superintendent of Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College and Hospital, said no humans had come into contact with the samples and that hospital authorities have since sanitised the area and disposed of the samples.
According to India's health ministry, the total number of coronavirus cases in the country as of Friday stands at 165 799, including 4 706 deaths.