Can man’s best friend lend a hand, or a nose, to the fight against the novel coronavirus? The answer might be yes.
There are various ongoing efforts to train sniffer dogs to detect covid-19, the disease caused by coronavirus. If dogs prove to be reliable in detecting the virus, scientists believe that they could provide low-cost, fast and reliable screening. Dogs would no doubt be an important help to their human friends, especially considering the testing problems that have been experienced in many parts of the world, including the U.S.
While we explain how sniffing out covid-19 might work, let us introduce you to Floki, an English springer spaniel in Australia. Floki is currently taking part in covid-19 detection training with researchers from the University of Adelaide.