Dogs can detect COVID-19 quicker and more accurately than nasal swabs, study finds

Dogs can detect COVID-19 in humans quicker and more accurately than the gold-standard nasal swab, according to a new study.

A Finnish scientist, who’s been testing the disease-detecting pups at Helsinki Airport, said her pooches identified a number of people who had the virus but had tested negative after taking polymerase chain reaction (PCR) nasal tests, The Times reported.

Days after the dogs — Miina, Kössi and Valo — diagnosed the travelers, the supposedly negative passengers started experiencing symptoms.

Dr. Anna Hielm-Björkman said this suggests pooches may be able to sniff out the virus at the very beginning stages of infection.

“They’re actually finding PCR negatives that are going to be PCR positives in a week’s time,” the scientist, who’s yet to publish her findings, told the outlet.

Researchers in Finland aren’t the only ones who’ve realized man’s best friend’s latest skill — from France to Lebanon to the UAE, scientists are reporting the same experience, Hielm-Björkman said.

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