UK to launch world’s first Covid-19 human challenge study

London, Feb 18 : Britain will be the first country to run a Covid-19 human challenge study, on which the country’s clinical trials ethics body has given a favorable opinion, the Imperial College London announced.
The study, backed by a government investment, will involve up to 90 carefully selected, healthy adult volunteers being exposed to the novel coronavirus in a safe and controlled environment, according to the college, Xinhua news agency reported on Wednesday.
It will help scientists understand how the immune system reacts to the novel coronavirus, and identify factors that influence how the virus is transmitted.
The study will be carried out by a partnership between the Imperial College London, the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and the clinical company hVIVO.
Researchers are encouraging people aged between 18 and 30 years old, who are at the lowest risk of complications resulting from the novel coronavirus, to consider volunteering to take part.
The initial study will aim to establish the least amount of virus needed to cause Covid-19 infection. As there is much less information available about new virus variants, the doctors will use the original virus that has been circulating in Britain since March 2020.