Covid detection dogs are an actual thing!

Earlier this month, attendees at a live music concert in Hanover, Germany, took part in a pioneering trial as they met mans best friend upon entry. 

The University of Veterinary Medicine Hanover (TiHo) used the event to hold a trial, testing the efficacy of COVID-19 detection dogs after publishing a study that found the canines could detect the presence of the virus in people with 94% accuracy.

Five hundred people attended the event – after providing negative PCR and rapid antigen test results before entry. These requirements are all the norm in a covid-coping world, but that wasn’t the last of the prerequisites for admission; guests also had to provide two arm sweat samples, which the detection dogs then sniffed to detect the presence of the coronavirus. 

Speaking about the test, professor Dr. Holger Volk of TiHo said: “In order to check that the dogs in the on-site entrance situation are able to recognize infected people, we smuggled in inactivated positive samples,” adding: “The result: the dogs have displayed all inactivated positive samples! So they did an excellent job.” 

Also commenting, Björn Thümler, Lower Saxony’s Minister of Science, said

the test would provide an insight into other available and more viable options – given the “heavy” COVID-19 testing infrastructure currently in use.

The concert in question was just one of four planned trial events in Germany. Detection dogs have previously been trialled in other places, including Dubai, Helsinki and Santiago airports. World-famous basketball franchise Miami Heat also ran similar events trialling the use of COVID-19 detection dogs.

Intrigued? Check out TiHo’s interim results here. 

Source: Edm.com