Those who are travelling to the UAE may be among the first in the world to experience the implementation of using K9 sniffer dogs to detect COVID-19.
In a world-first, dogs have been placed across airports in the UAE in order to detect coronavirus.
A video showcasing the stationing of dogs at Dubai International Airport was posted to the UAE’s state new agency WAM’s YouTube page, which also outlined exactly how the detection works.
“An area was dedicated to detect Covid-19 using K9 police dogs at Dubai International Airport,” Major Salah Al Mazrooei from Dubai Police explains in the video.
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“Samples are taken in collaboration with partners from Dubai Health Authority; results are out in less than one minute.”
As for how it works, samples are taken from travellers which are then taken into an isolated room where the dogs are able to sniff the samples in order to detect potential signs of coronavirus.
While it’s still in the testing stages, it’s been thought that the K9 sniffer dogs are able to detect the COVID-19 virus through their scent.
“The test was very fast, absolutely easy to do and I was surprised that it was available upon arrival,” a passenger who underwent the process says in the video.
To date, the UAE has had 60,999 confirmed cases of COVID-19 – 54,615 of which have recovered and there’s been 351 deaths.
