FUNDING PROBLEMS THREATEN FINLAND’S COVID SNIFFER DOGS

The future of Helsinki Airport’s coronavirus sniffer dogs is unclear as funding for the four-month project runs out at the end of 2020, reports the news syndicate Lännen Media.

The state's 300,000-euro project grant has funded the current trainers and dogs but does not cover the cost of schooling any new sniffers, the Finnish news agency Yle reported. "If we were to start training tens of dogs, it would cost tens or hundreds of thousands of euros. We don’t have that money until we start seeing results from the pilot," said Vantaa deputy mayor Timo Aronkytö. "We’ll have to see if the state will come in with more substantial funding."

So far around one percent of the samples sniffed by the canines have been coronavirus positive. A study assessing how accurately the dogs have detected the virus is set to begin in a few weeks. Corona-sniffing dogs started work in September.

The city of Vantaa, which is responsible for health safety at the airport, decided to put the canines to work after promising research into their virus-detecting abilities. Travelers who want to be tested step into small, screened-off areas, where they take skin wipe samples of themselves as directed and drop them into a receptacle. The dog and its trainer wait behind a screen, where the animal sniffs each sample. The arrangement is intended to protect people who may be allergic to dogs from coming into direct contact with them, while protecting the handlers from possible exposure to the virus.