UAE police dogs trained to detect COVID-19 cases

The UAE Ministry of Interior has successfully completed trials on using K9 police dogs to detect coronavirus cases in the country.

Samples are sniffed out by the dogs without coming in contact with the person, while results become known on the spot.

Field experiments were conducted in a number of vital health facilities and field hospitals in the country and results showed that presumed COVID-19 cases were detected with an accuracy rate of 92 per cent.

Experiments were based on two methods; the first direct method involved the dog’s routine detection work, while the second indirect method was carried out when the dog sniffed out a sample odor of the presumed case.

Figures indicate that dogs can quickly detect infected cases, help protect key sites and thus help authorities effectively deal with huge crowds and secure large areas like airports, malls and other public spaces.

The Ministry of Interior and its partners decided to use dogs based on their previous proven capability in dealing with other contagious diseases, such as tuberculosis and malaria, thus helping authorities to stop the spread of pandemics.