The Helsinki-Vantaa Airport in Finland is implementing an innovative anti-pandemic measure to quickly detect potential carriers of the Coronavirus. Instead of relying on traditional rapid testing methods, the airport is using dogs specifically trained to sniff out the deadly virus.
Finavia, the company that runs the airport, stated that the pilot program will be utilized alongside standard testing procedures. The company claims that the method has so far proven to be quite effective in accurately identifying individuals that are positive for the virus.
"We are among the pioneers. As far as we know no other airport has attempted to use canine scent detection on such a large scale against COVID-19. We are pleased with the city of Vantaa's initiative. This might be an additional step forward on the way to beating COVID-19," Finavia Executive Group member and Helsinki Airport director, Ulla Lettijeff, mentioned in a statement.
Researchers at the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Helsinki revealed that several of their tests have shown that scent detection using dogs has proven to be much more effective and accurate when compared to traditional COVID-19 tests that use molecular techniques. Researchers claimed that several studies have shown that well-training dogs can accurately smell the presence of the virus with "almost 100% accuracy."
Similar studies on a dog's ability to sniff out the virus were also conducted by the German Armed Forces, the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, and the Hannover Medical School. In the studies, it was shown that dogs were able to accurately distinguish between human saliva infected with the virus and those without infections. In the studies, trained dogs were shown to have an average success rate of around 94%.
Under the pilot program, travelers do not come into direct contact with the virus-sniffing dogs. A simple and painless skin swipe is all that is taken, which is then dropped into a cup before given to the dog. The contactless process ensures that both the dog and its handler are protected from unnecessarily being infected.
As of the moment, the tests are still largely voluntary. A person whose samples are detected as positive by the trained dogs will have to undergo regular Coronavirus test procedures.
