Dogs are being used to test arriving travellers for Covid-19 at the Helsinki airport in Finland.
The animals have been trained to detect the virus by scent, reports The New York Times.
The canines began work at the Finnish airport on Wednesday as part of a pilot program that aims to detect infections using the sweat collected on wipes from arriving passengers.
International airports have introduced various methods to detect Covid-19 in travelers over the past months including saliva screenings, temperature checks and nasal swabs. But researchers in Finland say that using dogs could be cheaper, faster and more effective.
After collecting their luggage, arriving passengers are invited to wipe their necks to collect sweat samples and leave the wipes in a box, which are then tested by the dogs.
Researchers said the dogs can detect a coronavirus-infected patient in 10 seconds, and the entire process takes a minute to complete.
Dogs have a particularly strong sense of smell and have been used in airports to sniff out bombs, drugs and other contraband in luggage for decades.
They have also been able to detect illnesses such as cancer and malaria.
