Sambhal (Uttar Pradesh), Apr 8 (IANS): The death of 15 monkeys over the past two days in a village in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal district has led to panic.

While the autopsy report of the simians is awaited from the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) in Bareilly, veterinary doctors suspect that the monkeys of Pawansa village may have succumbed to pneumonia.

According to the IVRI sources, initial tests show that the dead monkeys had liver and kidney infection. They attributed this to consuming contaminated water. The water, probably, had insecticides used by farmers for agriculture.

A veterinarian, Prakash Neer, said that the monkeys may have consumed some poisonous substance. He said that the lungs of the dead monkeys were swollen and their body temperature showed they had high fever.

People, however, fear that the deaths could be linked to some virus, probably the coronavirus. this week there was a tiger death in US' brox zoo due to Covid-19.