POLICE in Argentina have started making people perform smell tests at roadblocks in their fight against coronavirus.
Drivers are being asked if they can smell perfume-soaked pieces of card at two key exit and entry points into Chacabuco, a town of around 55,000 inhabitants a three hour drive west of the capital Buenos Aires.
Its mayor Victor Aiola, a paediatrician, says he believes they will help detect people with Covid-19 who are showing no obvious symptoms of the killer virus such as a dry cough or chest pain.
A recent UK study of international coronavirus cases found a significant proportion of coronavirus patients reported losing their sense of smell, taste or both.
Smell testing started yesterday in Chacabuco, the first municipality in the country to launch the novel scheme.
Its results are expected to be watched closely by the national government to see if it should be rolled out nationwide.
Drivers who fail to pick up the scent on the impregnated card have their details taken so they can be given a swab test for coronavirus.
Town hall spokesman Maximiliano Felice said: “Eighty per cent of people infected with the virus are asymptomatic and don’t have a high temperature or a cough but have the virus and can spread it.
“Of that 80 per cent, the first symptom 70 per cent have is loss of smell.
“If we find they can’t smell the fragrance, we record their names, contact health authorities and ask them to take the necessary precautions.
“It’s to take care of those people who are asymptomatic and avoid them spreading the virus to others.”
Argentinian president Alberto Fernandez is set to announce the extension of the country’s coronavirus lockdown later today, to April 27 or the start of May.
Its number of confirmed cases currently stands at 1,894 and the number of Covid-19 deaths at 81.
Chacabuco’s local measures include restrictions on the use of cars depending on whether their number plates end in an odd or even number.
Drivers must use face masks.
They were already having their temperatures taken at the police checkpoints but are now asked to take the innovative smell tests as well.
Mayor Mr Aiola said: “There are people who are not badly affected by coronavirus but are spreading it to family and work colleagues.
“These smell tests are an extra measure of prevention aimed at those who are not showing any symptoms but are carrying the virus.
“It’s unheard of in Argentina but it’s got a scientific basis. The protocol we have in place is activated if we detect loss of smell.”
