It was Harlock's first day at coronavirus training school and she already showed promise.  The one-year-old German Shepherd's task on Wednesday morning was simply to place her slightly wet nose on a black tube. "Sniff," encouraged her trainer, Mr Massimiliano Macera, who was quick to reward his furry student with treats whenever nose met tube. 

"She's already got it!" he added, smiling at his protégé, part of a team of dogs learning how to sniff out Covid-19. The project, which began 10 days ago at Rome's Campus Bio-Medico University Hospital, involves training dogs to detect the presence of coronavirus in human sweat.