A new study in the UAE has reinforced earlier experiment conducted by the Ministry of Interior that K9 dogs can sniff out COVID-19 among presumed cases with high accuracy and speed.

The Federal Customs Authority (FCA) and the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT), which recently undertaken a world-first study into deploying trained dogs for the detection of COVID-19, said that K9 dogscan detect the virus through human scent in just two seconds without coming in contact with suspected cases.

Dr. Abdullatif Al Shamsi, HCT President & CEO, said, “The study was conducted in three phases and confirmed the high accuracy of customs K9 sniffer dogs in diagnosing and detecting COVID-19 patients within two seconds.”

A joint task force was formed, consisting of experts, researchers and specialists from HCT and the K9 Unit of the FCA for the study.

The three-phase study involved 1,000 participants at COVID-19 screening centers. The final results showed a 98% correlation between the PCR test results and the detections by the Customs’ K9 dogs.

Al Shamsi congratulated the scientific team of experts, researchers, and specialists conducting the study, spearheaded by Prof. Mohammed Hag Ali. He further praised the cooperation between the HCT, the Federal Customs Authority, and the Customs K9 Unit.

Ali Saeed Mattar Al Nayadi said this international scientific achievement reinforces the pioneering role of the UAE in addressing the COVID-19 crisis.

He pointed out that using K9 sniffer dogs to detect the coronavirus will save effort and time, as well as reduce the pressure for medical frontliners by 98%, in addition to ensuring budget cost-effectiveness by saving millions of dirhams that can otherwise be used in vital sectors, such as infrastructure, healthcare, education, and security.

The study will be proposed for publication in a renowned international peer-reviewed scientific journal.