Last week, a laboratory technician was walking on the campus of a state-run medical college in Meerut, about 285 miles north of Lucknow, when a troop of monkeys attacked him, stealing blood samples infected with the coronavirus.

“Monkeys grabbed and fled with the blood samples of four COVID-19 patients who are undergoing treatment … we had to take their blood samples again,” said Dr SK Garg, a top official at the college. 

Garg said it was not clear if the monkeys could contract the coronavirus if they came into contact with infected blood.

“No evidence has been found that monkeys can contract the infection,” Garg told Reuters.

The blood samples have not been recovered leading to fears of this unusual incident leading to more infections.