KAMPONG CHHNANG, Cambodia — Cambodian anti-landmine authorities are training dogs to sniff out
COVID-19, hoping the sharp-nosed canines normally used to detect underground explosives can keep the virus on a tight leash.
اضافة اعلان
Cambodia has won praise for a swift vaccine drive, with the health ministry saying over 98 percent of the adult population has received at least one dose.
Now they are embarking on a new strategy to spot COVID cases.
Joining the fight will be 12 Belgian Malinois
dogs the Cambodian Mine Action Center has trained to nose out unsuspecting patients who might be carrying the virus.
In the longer term, the center hopes to use the dogs at major events, including sports matches, director general Heng Ratana told AFP.
“Dogs are more efficient than other tools,” he said.
The University of Health Sciences provided samples of volatile organic compounds — organic chemicals that emit odors — from COVID-19 patients to the demining agency’s facility in Kampong Chhnang province.
The dogs, bred in Cambodia, have so far proven to be very good boys.
“After two and a half months, our dogs are in an early stage of success (so) they could sniff out the scent of COVID-19,” dog trainer Khom Sokly told AFP.
Four are now able to detect COVID-19 placed in a one-meter tube in less than a minute, he said, while the other eight are training to root out the scents in an open space “at any location”.
“In the future, I hope the dogs could take part in preventing or reducing COVID-19 because they are fast,” Khom Sokly said.
CMAC staff said the budding virus-hunters have a few months left in their training regime.
Nearly three decades of civil war and
US bombing starting in the 1960s left
Cambodia one of the most heavily bombed and mined countries in the world.
The kingdom has vowed to clear all mines and unexploded ordnance by 2025, with several organizations working with veteran deminers, sniffer dogs, and even rats to reach the goal.
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