Barking up the right tree? Dogs being used to sniff out COVID-19 in Finland

Sniffer dogs are usually used to detect drugs or explosives. But at Helsinki airport in Finland, they”re being utilised to test for coronavirus.

A pilot project is providing instant and pain-free COVID-19 testing on the spot.

The canines have already sniffed more than 2,000 test samples since their booth was set up a month ago.

Passengers wipe themselves with a cloth and then drop the sample into a container, which the dogs then sniff.

Earlier this year, researchers found that dogs can detect the virus with close to perfect accuracy, up to five days earlier than a PCR test.

Watch more about this and the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the travel industry in the video player, above.