Helsinki Airport in Finland has deployed specially-trained dogs to detect Covid-19 among passengers within 10 minutes with 100% accuracy.
The trials are being conducted by researchers from the University of Helsinki. The preliminary results of the programme show that the dogs, which previously used to detect illnesses such as cancer and malaria, were able to identify the virus with almost full accuracy.
“What we’ve seen in our research is that the dogs will find (the disease) five days before they (patients) get any clinical symptoms,” said Anna Hielm-Bjorkman, adjunct professor at the University of Helsinki. “They are very good (at it). We come close to 100% sensitivity,” she said, referring to the dogs’ ability to detect cases of the virus.
How will it work?
Passengers will be offered a voluntary Covid test by dogs, without the need of the discomforting nasal swab. The passengers will be required to wipe their necks with a cloth to collect sweat samples. The samples will be placed in an intake box. In a separate booth, a dog handler will place the box along with several cans containing various scents and the dog will sniff out the sample with coronavirus.
Those checked by the dogs will then be encouraged to take a standard test to verify the accuracy of the determination.
Similar kinds of research have been undertaken by scientists in several countries, such as Germany and Britain. Finland is the first country in Europe to have actually put dogs to work to sniff out the coronavirus. A few months ago, authorities in the United Arab Emirates embarked on similar canine testing at Dubai International Airport using police dogs.
The researchers said that if the pilot programme proves to be effective, dogs could be used to quickly and efficiently screen visitors in spaces such as retirement homes or hospitals to avoid unnecessary quarantines for health care workers.
