In a first, the Forest Department of the Indian state of Rajasthan has launched a three-day medical camp in an elephant village in which they are collecting samples to test them for COVID-19.
According to the authorities, a team of three medical doctors are camping at the elephant village(hathi gaon) on the outskirts of the state capital Jaipur. The camp started on Thursday.
"We are collecting samples from their eyes, trunks (slab test), rectums, and blood, along with other parts. As many as 103 elephants will be tested for COVID-19. These sample would be sent to a special veterinary hospital at the Indian Veterinary Research Institute in the city of Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh; it will take around a week for the reports (to be completed)," said Arvind Mathur,a veterinary specialist in wildlife medicine.
He further said that it's an initiative to check if the infectious virus, which has claimed several human lives, is being transmitted to these animals (elephants).