Five samples of coronavirus were stolen from a woman employee's car at a gas station in Chicago. The LabCorp employee stopped by a South Side gas station leaving her car unlocked just before 7 pm local time at Chicago.
Two men came and stole her 2015 model Jeep Cherokee as she entered the gas station. The lab tech found her car a few miles away after she asked for help from her relative. She informed nearby police officers at midnight as the duo were still in the car, according to a police report.
Police are still hunting them as they ran away when the officers approached. After the missing vehicle was repossessed, police were able to confirm that five of the coronavirus samples were missing.
Similar case in Arizona
In a similar case, police are trying to find a man who stole 29 unused COVID-19 test kits from an Arizona medical center. The man entered El Rio Health Center identifying himself as delivery driver just before 8 pm on March 20. He allegedly took the test kits as other employees were preparing to close for the night. The next morning employees informed the police after they found the test kits missing.
Police said the kits are totally useless for the suspect as they can only be used in private labs with essential tools for testing and reading results. Tucson police asked the public not to buy any coronavirus test kits that are for sale as it is a trick to make easy money during this time of crisis. "It is a scam! There are currently no home test kits for the virus," police said.
Illinois and Arizona have recorded 17,887 and 3,112 confirmed cases of coronavirus respectively. The total number of COVID-19 fatalities reported from around the United States has surpassed 18,700, while the number of cases of infection has reached 503,177.
