COVID-19 has caused a worldwide healthcare crisis.

There is a current shortage of tests for COVID-19 and a real need for improved diagnostics

Travellers between most countries have not to date been tested at ports of entry, and it is difficult to track and control the spread of the virus. If we are going to tackle this epidemic, return to more normal activity and protect the population from the impact on the economy there is an extremely urgent need for improved diagnostics, particularly at airports, for COVID-19.

When it comes to controlling COVID-19, time is of the essence. We have a robust solution.

The Solution - COVID-19 Detection Dogs

We are again collaborating with Durham University and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) and together we are confident that dogs could be used as a rapid diagnostic screen to detect COVID-19 infected individuals. COVID-19 Detection Dogs could triage high numbers incredibly quickly a 4 dog team could screen up to 1,000 people per hour to supplement ongoing testing and help prioritise the use of limited resources.

Dogs could be used in public spaces such as airports to identify travellers arriving to the country either without symptoms or who are pre-symptomatic. Our dogs would provide rapid, accurate and non-invasive screening. An early warning system with the potential for rapid isolation. The presence of a trained dog would both indicate individuals who are incubating the disease and those who are may be mildly symptomatic but non-compliant and who require testing.

COVID-19 Detection Dogs could also assist in mapping and intelligence gathering to provide estimates of likely percentage of infected travellers on flights from hotspot locations from around the world, helping to prevent an uncontrolled second wave of COVID-19 in the autumn.

Practical Deployment with global potential

Once we have trained the first medical detection dogs this model could be deployed and upscaled in collaboration with teams and agencies that currently handle drugs and explosive detector dogs to provide rapid non-invasive screening for COVID-19. If successful we could scale-up our operations rapidly to test during ongoing transmission.

How you can help

COVID-19 Detection Dogs could save thousands of lives, not just in the UK but around the globe

With your help, we can make this a reality. Please donate today.