Helsinki Airport Trials Wise Nose Sniffer Dogs to Detect COVID-19

摘要

A state-funded trial involving four COVID-19 sniffer dogs began at Helsinki Airport. The scheme, launched in association with researchers from the University of Helsinki, aims to provide a cheap, fast and effective alternative method of testing people for the virus. A dog can detect the presence of the coronavirus within 10 seconds and the entire process takes less than a minute to complete, according to Anna Hielm-Bjorkman of the University of Helsinki, who is overseeing the trial. After collecting their luggage, arriving international passengers are asked to dab their skin with a wipe. In a separate booth, the beaker containing the wipe is then placed next to others containing different control scents - and the dog starts sniffing. If it indicates it has detected the virus - usually by yelping, pawing or lying down - the passenger is advised to take a free standard polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to verify the dog's verdict. In the university's preliminary tests, dogs were able to identify the virus with nearly 100% accuracy. Dogs can identify COVID-19 from a much smaller molecular sample than PCR tests, needing only 10-100 molecules to detect the presence of the virus compared with the 18 minutes needed by laboratory equipment.