RAWALPINDI: Airport authorities have agreed to use sniffer dogs to identify Covid-19-infected inbound travelers at Islamabad International Airport.

A senior airport official told Dawn that well-trained sniffer dogs will detect the virus among the travellers smelling the odors generated by infected people.

Sniffer dogs can be used as a secondary screening tool for detecting Covid-19 infection, he said.

A team of experts have already visited the airport and selected the site to deploy the sniffer dogs.

Earlier, the health authorities in collaboration with the Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) has been using thermal scanners and Rapid Antigen tests to detect the infected travelers at the airport to contain the covid-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority has allowed the airlines to operate 30pc of their flights for travelers.

The additional 30pc operations will be with incoming flights ferry/cargo and outgoing persons only.

However, the existing 20pc is for both arrival and departure. The airline’s operations with 20 per cent flights had been from May 5 to 20, 2021.

The CAA has sought flight schedules from all airlines of extra flights which are effective tentatively from May 18.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2021