In its June 2021 volume (4:686), the legend scientific periodic, Communications Biology that is issued by the globally renowned “Nature Foundation”, has published a scientific paper about successful achievement by the UAE through use of K9 dog unit in detecting the COVID-19, complementing the PCR testing technique. 

The Federal Customs Authority (FCA) in collaboration with Higher College of Technology (HCT) last year-end successfully achieved the one of its kind global scientific paper on employing K9 dogs to detect individuals free of COVID-19 infection by sniffing sweat to score 98.2 per cent success ratio. This crucial scientific achievement can be contributing to boost global fight against coronavirus.

According to Nature, the study included a sample of 3,290 individuals who were taken from COVID-19 testing centres where all samples were taken through PCR test. Then the individuals were asked to voluntarily donate sweat samples after their written consent. All samples were compiled and collated to sweat samples taken from armpit to verify accuracy of results of K9 dogs. The study concluded that the results by K9 dogs scored 98.2 per cent success in detecting Covid-19 free individuals, indicating high accuracy. The negative predictive value (NPV) of the trained K9 based examination represents a “robust indicator of the high benefit of employing such examination to detect virus-free individuals.”

Ali Saeed Matar Al Neyadi, Commissioner of Customs - Chairman of FCA, highlighted that publishing of such scientific paper in a specialized international magazine showcased keenness of the UAE’s leadership to utilize all available resources to combat pandemic and serve the humanity while boosting global efforts to handle emergencies, crisis and natural disasters, stemming from the value and principles of the Union Nation. He added that study publication also reflects global recognition achieved by UAE’s research sector showcasing its capabilities. He underlined that authority’s cooperation with HTC in study highlights it as a role model of cooperation between state institutions and education and research bodies. 

In turn, Dr. Abdul Latif Al Shamsi congratulated HTC Director, the joint scientific team between FCA and HTC based on the scientific paper, te researchers and specialised personnel team led by Professor Mohammed Haj Ali for their submission of scientific paper that has attracted global interest. 

Ahmad Abdulla bin Lahej Al Falasi, Director-General of FCA, said, “Employing K9 dogs' sniffing approach in detecting COVID-19 free individuals will save time and efforts and hence, allows governments to address the consequences of the pandemic and diminish its impacts on economic growth ratios and swift restoration of economic institutions activity.”

Al Falasi noted that partnership with research institutions and the private sector is a strategic foundation for authority to reinforce its security, economic and social role.

WAM