All samples were compiled and collated to sweat samples from under the armpit to verify how accurate the results of K9 dogs are….reports Asian Lite News
The legend scientific periodic, Communications Biology issued by the renowned ‘Nature Foundation’, published a scientific paper on the success achieved by UAE in proving the excellence of K9 Unit in detecting the COVID-19 free individuals, which supports and complements the PCR testing technique.
In cooperation with the Higher College of Technology (HCT), the Federal Customs Authority (FCA) succeeded the last year-end in achieving the first of its kind scientific paper in the global arena on employing K9 dogs to detect those COVID-19 free persons through sniffing sweat to score 98.2 per cent success ratio.
According to Nature, the study incorporated a sample comprising (3,290) individuals taken from those visiting COVID-19 testing centres where all of them were subject to the traditional PCR test then they were asked to voluntarily donate sweat samples following their written consent.
All samples were compiled and collated to sweat samples from under the armpit to verify how accurate the results of K9 dogs are.
The study concluded that the results achieved by K9 dogs scored (98.2 per cent) in detecting virus-free individuals, such score indicates the high accuracy in identifying and detecting COVID-19 free individuals. 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, said that publishing the study reflects the international recognition of UAE research capabilities and the value of its scientific institutions. He underscored that authority’s cooperation with HTC in conducting the study stands as a role model of cooperation between state executive 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, the team comprises researchers and specialised personnel led by Professor Mohammed Haj Ali for their accomplishment in submitting the first integrated scientific paper attracting global interest and publication.
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.
He highlighted FCA’s devotion to cooperate and coordinate with local and world bodies to employ the customs sector’s potentials to confront emergencies and crisis while promoting society members luxury and wellbeing.
Al Falasi pointed out that partnership with research institutions and the private sector represents a strategic pillar for the authority to reinforce its security, economic and social role and support the State’s competitiveness and its exhaustive development trajectory. (WAM)