Daijiworld Media Network - Dubai (SHP)

Dubai, Aug 4: As the world struggles to curb the rising coronavirus cases, countries have been coming up with preventive measures to contain the deadly disease. While the vaccine will likely take some more time before it is made available to the people, Dubai has gone ahead and come up with an interesting way to detect the virus infection in humans. The country has deployed specially-trained police dogs at its airport to single out those who are infected.

Earlier it was being considered on whether dogs could actually sniff the virus or not as the sniffer dogs have known to identify specific infections/diseases such as cancer, tuberculosis, malaria, diabetes, and Parkinson’s among others.

With the sniffer dogs now deployed, the UAE believes that these dogs will be efficient in detecting coronavirus infected passengers. Meanwhile, there are several countries that are still under the process of studying and experimenting with dog theory.

In a statement, Dubai’s Ministry of Interior (MoI) said, "Data and studies showed that detection of presumed Covid-19 cases achieved approximately 92 per cent in overall accuracy. Figures indicate that dogs can quickly detect infected cases, help protect key sites, effectively deal with huge crowds and secure large events, airports, etc.”

The Dubai Health Authority (DHA), along with the teams of dogs and trainers deployed at the airports reportedly screen every possibly-infected passenger. A scent sample is collected of the passenger from the armpit, which the canine sniffs in an isolated room. The specially-trained sniffer dogs generally detect the virus within seconds. Thus, no direct contact happens between the passenger and the dog.

The MoI further mentioned, "Trained detection dogs are known for their extraordinary capabilities and skills that outdo other dogs, especially their strong sense of smell. For this reason, they can be used in police patrols and securing malls, events, airports and other vital facilities."

So far, the UAE has reported 61,163 corona-positive cases and 351 deaths.