The UK has approved a first-of-its-kind Coronavirus (COVID-19) study that will expose young and healthy volunteers to Covid-19 as part of efforts to further understand the virus, the government has announced.<br /><br />Due to begin in the next few weeks, the study will recruit up to 90 carefully-selected participants aged between 18 and 30 – who are at the lowest risk of complications from coronavirus – and expose them to the pathogen in a safe and controlled environment.<br /><br />After exposure, the volunteers will be closely monitored by medics and scientists for 24 hours a day throughout the study. They will be kept in quarantine for a minimum of 17 days and only allowed to return home after this period once they are no longer deemed infectious.<br /><br />It’s hoped the research will help doctors to further understand how the immune system reacts to Sars-CoV-2, identify factors that influence how the virus is transmitted and aid the development of treatments and vaccines.<br /><br />Known as a Human Challenge study, the first phase of research aims to establish the smallest amount of virus needed to cause infection. Scientists expect this take up to two months.<br /><br />This article was originally published by Samuel Lovett for the Independent (UK) on February 17, 2021:<br />http://bit.ly/3bndMYj<br /><br />FIND the model and photographer created this video on Pexels:<br />https://bit.ly/3aqnKYj<br /><br />SUBSCRIBE to our channel:<br />http://bit.ly/3pOwYUZ
