For Bangkok market sellers, the armpit sweat soaking their T-shirts during the humid monsoon season may contain subtle signs of coronavirus infection, AFP quotes local scientists as saying.

Thai researchers are developing a sweat-based mobile virus detector and road-tested it on shopkeepers at a Bangkok food market this week.

“From the samples, we found that people infected with Covid-19 secrete very distinct chemicals,” said Chadin Kulsing from Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.

It is however still in the development stage, and the research behind it is yet to be published or peer-reviewed.