Study Finds Dogs Can Sniff Out COVID-19 Patients In Under A Second

There are many questions as to how the world will reopen once the pandemic has passed. Right now the issue is that vaccines don’t last very long, and reopening the borders for tourism and business might prove tricky if people don’t keep up to date with their vaccines, plus it would be very inconvenient and could be a deterrent if passengers were forced to undergo quarantines everytime they go to a new place.

So perhaps dogs could be our answer. A recent study has found that people who are infected with COVID-19 give off a distinct odor that properly trained dogs can sniff out in under a second. What this means is that these dogs could be deployed at places like an airport where they can identify people who give off that odor.

This could help ease travel restrictions where if the dog doesn’t smell anything on you, you’re free to go, but if the dog thinks you have something, you could then be given a PCR test for confirmation and maybe put under quarantine. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about this as back in 2020, it was revealed that dogs were being trained for this purpose. Countries such as Finland have also tested it out at their airports.

However, whether or not this will become the new norm remains to be seen, but it is a possibility. In the meantime, the Singapore government has recently approved a breath test which can be used to detect for COVID-19 which could be an alternative way of screening people coming into the country.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Medical
Tags: Coronavirus, covid-19, Health, Science