Four dogs will be deployed at a major Adelaide hospital to sniff visitors for COVID-19.
The four labradors will be stationed at the entrance to the Lyell McEwin Hospital's emergency department for the next six weeks.
Two dogs will work at any given time, inspecting up to 100 visitors per hour for the smell of people with the virus.
Patients and visitors to the emergency department will still have to undergo a rapid antigen test (RAT) and can opt out of being smelled by a canine.
The dogs' results will be compared with the other tests' outcomes.
Similar trials of dogs sniffing for COVID-19 were conducted at the Adelaide and Sydney airports last year.
The new trial will also be led by University of Adelaide veterinary science researcher Anne-Lise Chaber.
"We saw that dogs were a reliable screening tool in our airport trial last year, however relying on a sweat sample was too time-consuming," Dr Chaber said.
"Specially trained dogs are able to sniff out and identify positive COVID-19 cases faster and earlier than PCR and more reliably than rapid antigen tests.
"This study will tell us if the sniffer dogs are as reliable at testing people directly in a hospital setting.
SA Pathology clinical services director Sophia Otto said it would be beneficial if an accurate way of detecting COVID-19 early could be found through the study.
"People can be infectious before showing any symptoms of COVID-19 and can unwittingly spread the virus," Dr Otto said.
"The dogs have a remarkable ability to detect the scent of viral infection before an individual develops symptoms or spreads the virus."
A 92-year-old woman spent two hours waiting to get into the Lyell McEwin's emergency department last month while waiting for her RAT result, in what Premier Peter Malinauskas called a "substantial stuff-up".
A report released on Monday found it was an "oversight" and the hospital had improved its practices, including by bringing the testing area in from outside.
In January, the hospital relaxed a strict policy on visitors to the maternity ward, after attracting criticism from then-premier Steven Marshall.
SA Health reported 2,995 new cases of COVID-19 in the state today, the highest number of new cases in 12 days.
No deaths associated with the virus were reported today.
Nineteen deaths have been reported over the past week.
A total of 237 people with COVID-19 are in hospital, including five in intensive care.
