This 28-year-old man from Odisha, eastern India believes eating live red ants will help his body combat COVID-19.

Nayadhar Padhial an engineer by trade believes his consumption of live red ants will fight off the deadly virus.

Footage shows Padhial scaling a tree hunting for ant nests.

Padhial said: "These ants are specially used to make chutney but making chutney will reduce its medicinal property, eating them alive would retain the properties that would help boost immunity to fight against the pandemic.

"The red ants are deadly as their stings are painful, but nothing is moire painful than death so I prefer to eat them alive."

This footage was filmed on July 19.