Thai scientists, in their latest research, believed that the armpit sweat soaking their T-shirts during the humid monsoon season may contain subtle signs of COVID-19 infection.

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.

"We used this finding to develop a device to detect the specific odours produced by certain bacteria in the sweat of COVID-19 patients".

Chadin - who said the test was 95 percent accurate - hopes it might be rolled out as an affordable alternative to more expensive swab tests that require lab processing.

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

The scientists adapted a device usually used to detect toxic chemicals in the environment.

Targeted persons place a cotton swab under their arms for 15 minutes, before the swab is put in a glass vial and sterilised with UV rays. The technician then draws an appropriate amount of the sample using a suction hose, and pressurises it into the analyser to check the results. Chadin said sample collection takes 15 minutes and the results are ready in 30 seconds.

Thailand, battling its third and worst COVID-19 wave, reported 16,000 new cases on September 9, taking the total since the start of the pandemic to nearly 1.34 million.

Source: VNA