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| "A very small amount of that is then put into a jar - it has the scent of the patient - then we put the sample out for the dog to sniff ... When he gives us a sign, we give him a treat," said First Lieutenant Nasser al-Falasi of Dubai Police, supervisor of the programme at the K9 training centre in Dubai's Awir region. (Photo by=Reuters/Abdel Hadi Ramahi) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] DUBAI: Police in Dubai have built up a special unit of 38 sniffer dogs that can detect COVID-19 from human sweat samples with 92 percent accuracy, the supervisor of the training program told Reuters.
Dubai Police trained the cohort, which includes German Shepherds, Labradors, Cocker Spaniels, and Border Collies, to recognize the scent of COVID-19 using samples of sweat from people with confirmed infections, collected by holding a swab in an armpit for a few minutes. In the center's large training hall, police handlers walk the dogs along a row of metal boxes, of which only one contains a positive sample. The dogs sniff the samples and within seconds sit down to signal that they have found something. The study used sweat samples and PCR tests from 3,290 people to compare the dogs' detection abilities.
Airports in the United Arab Emirates were one the first in the world to trial canine COVID-19 detection in 2020. The dogs are no longer used in UAE's airports, but they are ready to be deployed wherever required. The study used sweat samples and PCR tests from 3,290 people to compare the dog's detection abilities. Meanwhile, several other countries, including Finland, the United States, and France have been running their own dog training and trials of canine detection of COVID-19.
