A video showing monkeys wreaking havoc in a hospital in South Africa's Durban has resurfaced with claims that it is from India, in the backdrop of COVID-19 outbreak. The video shows vervet monkeys stealing food from within a hospital ward, as sick and ailing patients can be seen cowering from them under the bed covers. The primates can be seen running along the curtain rails above the beds and crawling on the floor to grab food.
Text reading 'COVID Hospital in India' has been included in the video.
Modern Hospital in India where educated monkeys treating the patient. pic.twitter.com/LO2cMdA8DJ
— Ali Zaib Khan (@A_ZaibKhan) July 12, 2020
A Hospital in India.
— Rashid Zia Cheema (@RZCheema) July 10, 2020
They consider the monkeys their spiritual healers.
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.@PoliticalGuru3 @KamranBeg3 @aslamnoon1 @moneir27 @FarooqHKhan @Muhamma34444492 @chatomerayar @ pic.twitter.com/JXaoLy6Bm4
The report further claimed that the hospital authorities had set up a task force to deal with the situation and the health minister had demanded a 'halt of the invasions.'
The same video was shared by Express, UK.
A news report documenting the plight of the patients was also published in a local news bulletin.
A video showing the National Department of Health (South Africa) and National Department of Environmental Affairs visiting the RK Khan Hospital to take stock of the situation by deploying a team to deal with the monkeys invading medical wards was also shared on Facebook.
The same was corroborated by Zim Fact, a fact checking platform from Zimbabwe.