Dogs learn to sniff out Covid with 94% accuracy in new study

This Labrador has been specially trained to sniff out Covid-19 with up to 94% accuracy, according to a new UK study.

The dog is seen inspecting three identical-looking canisters, before stopping in front of one. It is one of six canine detectives from the charity Medical Detection Dogs that have participated in a trial testing more than 3,500 odour samples.

With 350 million sensory receptors in their noses – compared to humans’ 5 million – dogs are able to detect the distinct smell of a Covid infection.

Researchers believe that dogs, deployed alongside PCR tests, could help identify twice as many virus cases.