Tracking dogs will soon be able to identify people infected with the coronavirus. By the end of August, corona detection dogs in Belgian would be ready for use, for example at mass events as soon as they are allowed again.
"There has already been a lot to do about corona tests: at first there were not enough, then they were not accurate enough or they are unpleasant and sometimes painful", the Belgian public broadcaster (VRT) wrote on it's website. But here and there in the world dogs are currently being trained to detect people with the corona virus. They are already deployed in Dubai, and Professor Chris Callewaert of Ghent University is working to train dogs in Belgium. "We know that the coronavirus releases a specific odor into the sweat. Therefore, we are now collecting as many sweat samples as possible to train the dogs."
Festivals and airports
Mass events are not allowed yet, but once they will be again, the dogs can be very helpful, Callewaert tells VRT: "If the dogs sniff the people at the entrance, they can catch infected people early. Even though those dogs are very accurate, an extra test can assure everyone whether or not there is an infection, and whether quarantine is needed, all in all that is a little faster than waiting for someone to have symptoms and go to the doctor for a test, ..."
