COVID-19 dogs will start working at Helsinki Airport (HEL) this week as part of a pilot program that uses the animals’ sensitive noses to speed up the process of identifying those infected with the virus.
Finavia, the public limited company responsible for maintaining and developing Finland’s airport network, moved forward with the project after preliminary tests conducted by a research group at the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Helsinki found that dogs are able to smell the virus with almost 100 percent certainty.
“We are among the pioneers,” Ulla Lettijeff, airport director with Finavia, said in a news release. “As far as we know, no other airport has attempted to use canine scent detection on such a large scale against COVID-19. This might be an additional step forward on the way to beating COVID-19.”
The initial testing found the dogs can identify the virus days before symptoms have even started, something that many laboratory tests fail to do. Dogs are also able to identify COVID-19 from a much smaller sample than tests used by health care professionals.
The specially-trained Helsinki Airport COVID-19 dogs will perform their task in a separate booth and will not come in direct contact with travelers. Those taking the test will swipe their skin with a wipe and drop it into a cup, which is then given to the dog. This also protects the dog’s handler from infections.
Finavia said tests will be processed anonymously. Only if the test result is positive, will the passenger be directed to a health information point maintained by the city of Vantaa, which is located at the airport.
