First Covid-infected traveler detected by Sibiu airport K9 sniffer dog

In a first for Romania, a Covid-infected man was correctly sniffed out Friday night by a specially trained police dog upon his arrival at the Sibiu International Airport, where he landed from Madrid; the passenger had received the complete vaccination scheme, Colonel Daniel Chelcea, director general of the Public Health Directorate (DSP), told AGERPRES. "Passenger #1 was flagged by the trained dog and came positive at the rapid test performed by the DSP staff. He was taken over by an ambulance and transported to the Emergency Reception Unit for specialized investigations and the confirmation or refutation of the disease; he will have to isolate at the declared address. The person detected as positive had received both vaccine jabs," Chelcea specified. The passenger showed symptoms of the disease, and his PCR test performed at the County Hospital returned positive, DSP Sibiu deputy director Adela Morar said. The police dogs also indicated a second Covid suspect passenger in the same plane arrived from Madrid Friday night, but this one tested negative. The Sibiu International Airport is the only Romanian airline hub to use specially trained dog teams to detect signs of SARS-CoV-2 infection in passengers. The K9s were trained for months using sweat samples from patients with COVID-19, the local authorities said. The handlers assure that there is no risk that the dogs bite a passenger and that they pose no danger to allergic people either because the animals cannot get in contact with the travelers, but only sniff them through a protective wall with holes. AGERPRES (RO - author: Isabela Paulescu, editor: Catalin Alexandru; EN - editor: Simona Klodnischi)