Indian army training dogs to sniff out COVID

The Indian army trains dogs to find COVID-positive people by sniffing human sweat and urine, Report informs referring to Reuters.

Breeds such as cocker spaniels and labradors are being trained to detect the disease from the cells of infected people at a facility in New Delhi.

Several countries are considering using dogs to identify the coronavirus at airports and other public spaces. But the military deployment is the first time in India that dogs are being used to detect COVID, said Colonel Surender Saini, an army dog trainer.

"Based on the data from the samples which we have tested till now, we can infer the ability to detect the disease is more than 95 percent among sniffer dogs," Saini said.

At least eight dogs were being trained to be deployed to a transit camp in northern India, from where troops move to high-security border areas. Dogs would allow quicker detection of the disease and reduce the need for tests in remote locations.