This is the astonishing moment hundreds of starving wild monkeys scramble for a single piece of food because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The primates are normally well fed by tourists in the city of Lopburi, central Thailand, but visitors have plummeted because of the virus sweeping the world.

So when one of the primates had a juicy banana, the entire pack roaming around the streets surrounded the creature this morning (March 11) and tried to grab it.

Footage shows how hundreds of monkeys began tussling for the snack. When one of the animals fled with it, the creatures chased it up a grass bank.

Even locals who are used to seeing the creatures were shocked by their ferocity.

Onlooker Sasaluk Rattanachai captured the scene from outside a shop where she works.

She said: ''They looked more like wild dogs than monkeys. They went crazy for a single piece of food. I've never seen them this aggressive.

''I think the monkeys were very, very hungry. There's normally a lot of tourists here to feed the monkeys but now there are not as many, because of the coronavirus.''

Lopburi is home to thousands of wild monkeys that roam the streets and buildings. Many live on the grounds of the city's ancient Buddhist temples.

Last month it emerged that wild monkeys in Thailand were suffering because of the coronavirus causing tourist arrivals to plunge by 44 percent.

Primates living in a public park in Songkhla, southern Thailand, are usually well fed by visiting tourists from Malaysia and China.

However, the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus has all but stopped the arrival of tourists to the area, where they would normally feed the wild monkeys.

Kind locals stepped in on Tuesday (Feb 26) evening to give the monkeys fresh watermelons and tomatoes.