According to the Guardian, the incident occurred May 28 in the city of Meerut, Uttar Pradesh state, northern India. A herd of monkeys then suddenly attacked a laboratory employee of Lala Lajpat Rai Medical University Hospital here and took away a box containing 3 samples of Covid-19 blood tests.

SK Garg, the head of the hospital, said that these were blood samples from patients who had previously tested positive for the new corvid virus causing Covid-19.

Dheeraj Baliyan, another hospital official, said the monkeys had climbed the tree along with the blood samples they robbed. They chew the test vials and throw them away afterwards. Mr. Baliyan confirmed that the blood samples were recovered intact and no one was exposed to those samples during the loss. He added that the hospital disinfected the area where the incident occurred, while destroying blood samples.

Meanwhile, local authorities have opened an investigation into the hospital for a mistake in handling the Covid-19 samples.

The Covid-19 epidemic continues to evolve complicatedly in India despite the blockade. As of this morning 30/5, the number of deaths from Covid-19 in India is 4,980 cases, surpassing the number of deaths in China (4,634 cases) and also the highest in Asia. To date, India has recorded more than 173,000 cases of Covid-19, the ninth most in the world.

Covid-19 deaths in India have quadrupled in less than a month, including more than 1,000 in the past week. Experts of the Indian government admitted that the Covid-19 epidemic could peak in June or July.