Monkeys in India "attacked" a health worker and made off with coronavirus test blood samples. PHOTO | MONEY SHARMA | AFP
New Delhi
Monkeys
mobbed an Indian health worker and made off with coronavirus test blood
samples, spreading fears that the stealing simians could spread the
pandemic in the local area.
Indian authorities often have to grapple with primates snatching food and even mobile phones.
After
making off with the three samples earlier this week in Meerut, near the
capital New Delhi, the monkeys scampered up nearby trees and one then
tried to chew its plunder.
The sample boxes
were later recovered and had not been damaged, Meerut Medical college
superintendent Dheeraj Raj said on Friday, after footage of the
encounter went viral on social media.
"They were still intact and we don't think there is any risk of contamination or spread," Raj said
He added that the three people whose samples were stolen were retested for the virus.
Coronavirus has been detected in animals, though there is no confirmation that the disease can then be passed on to humans.
India's
coronavirus death toll passed neighbouring China's on Friday, with 175
new fatalities in 24 hours taking the total to 4,706, according to
official data.
India, home to some of the
world's most packed cities and a creaking healthcare system, is emerging
as a new hotspot with record jumps in new cases in recent days.
In
many rural areas, farmers lose crops to monkey populations and have
demanded local governments' intervention to check their populations.
City
authorities in New Delhi have famously used long-tailed langur monkeys
to fight and scare away smaller primates from around the Indian
Parliament.
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