Chile's Santiago Airport, Assigns Dogs To Detect COVID-19

COVID-19 sniffer dog

JAKARTA - Examination or screening for COVID-19 is generally carried out using sophisticated technology. However, to detect the passenger who contracted the corona virus it was replaced by a group of trained dogs at the Santiago international airport, Chile.

A team of Golden Retrievers and Labradors sit down as they smell the virus and get food. The dogs wear green "biodetector" jackets with a red cross.

Passengers at the airport health checkpoint wipe their necks and wrists with gauze which are then put in a glass container and given to the dog to be sniffed, then officials see if they detect COVID-19 from the gauze.

Bloodhounds were previously known to be trained to detect the smell of drugs and explosives, but others have been trained to detect malaria, cancer and Parkinson's disease.

Dogs trained to detect the new coronavirus have started sniffing samples of passengers at airports in the United Arab Emirates and Finland.

A recent study found that dogs can identify infected individuals with 85 percent to 100 percent accuracy and detect no infection with 92 to 99 percent accuracy.

* Sees a dog working at the airport * 🐶Don't ask Don't ask Don't ask Don't ask Me: Can I pet it? If you see a @Carabdechile @DGACChile @sagchile @PDI_CHILE or @AduanaCL dog, wait until it's resting to pet it. Remember: they also work for our safety. @ VINCIAirports @GroupeADP pic.twitter.com/aZjyEMiC4t

- Aeropuerto SCL (AMB) (@NuevoPudahuel) November 21, 2018

Chile's Carabinero Police have trained the dogs and Inspector General Esteban Diaz said dogs have more than 3 million olfactory receptors, up to 50 times more than human receptors, so they have a unique place to help fight the coronavirus.

Infections in Chile have fallen far from their peak in June but are starting to rise again with an average of about 2,000 new cases being reported each day, according to a Reuters tally. Chile has a total of 589,189 confirmed cases and 16,217 deaths from the disease.