Finland’s pandemic accelerates, airport deploys corona dogs | Abroad

The number of new cases has doubled in the past two weeks to 798. About half of the cases have been detected in people under the age of 30, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health added. In response, the Finnish public health authority THL extended its advice to wear face masks on public transport to all indoor public spaces and public events in regions where the epidemic is gaining momentum.

In addition, four detection dogs are active at the airport of the capital Helsinki, which are trained to recognize the corona virus in travelers. Finavia airport confirms that a total of ten dogs are being trained.

Preliminary tests by veterinarians at the University of Helsinki indicate that the dogs’ sensitive noses are able to smell the presence of the virus. In addition, they can do this well before the symptoms are visible. “A dog only needs 10 to 100 molecules to identify the virus, while testing equipment requires 18 million virus particles,” the airport said.

The four-legged friends do not come into direct contact with humans. Travelers get a cloth swept over their skin, which the ‘Covid-19 dog’ sniffs in a separate room. “We are among the pioneers,” says airport director Ulla Lettijeff. “To our knowledge, no other airport has attempted to use dogs’ sense of smell on such a large scale against Covid-19.”

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