The world’s first human trial of novel coronavirus has been approved
Scientists are studying novel coronavirus in greater depth as people around the world begin mass vaccination with the covid vaccine.
The world’s first Novel Coronavirus Human Challenge Trial is now set to launch in the UK.
February 17, according to CNN reports, local time, the British government web site said in a statement, the country approved a will be coronavirus “human” challenge test plan, not more than 90 healthy adult volunteers will be exposed to will be coronavirus environment, aims to provide scientists study the body’s immune system to will be the reaction of coronavirus, analyzing the factors that may influence the spread of the virus.
However, even in a controlled setting, the study of infecting healthy volunteers with the potentially deadly novel coronavirus is controversial.
Meanwhile, the situation in the UK remains dire.
A new variant of novel coronavirus, known as B.1.525, has been found in the UK, with 38 people infected so far, according to Public Health England.
The world’s first covid human challenge trial has been approved in the UK
Coronavirus is the first country in the world to receive approval for a novel coronavirus challenge in humans, with the UK government planning to launch the study within a month, according to the UK’s Clinical Trials Ethics Authority.
The world’s first novel Coronavirus “human challenge trial” has been approved in the UK.
/ Screenshot from a British government website
In the initial phase of the study, the scientists will analyze the minimum amount of virus needed to infect humans with novel coronavirus.
The plan is to recruit up to 90 healthy adult volunteers, aged between 18 and 30.
Before the volunteers are allowed to take part in the trial, they will be placed in isolation at London’s Royal Free Hospital and exposed to Novel Coronavirus in a safe, controlled environment.
Due to limited knowledge about the recently discovered mutant novel coronavirus, to ensure the safety of the volunteers, the study will use the novel coronavirus strain that was circulated in the UK in March 2020.
Two days after entering the isolation facility, researchers will drop Novel Coronavirus into the noses of volunteers, according to The Guardian.
The volunteers were given daily blood tests and nasal swabs for at least the next 14 days, while researchers monitored them around the clock.
Up to 90 volunteers in the UK will take part in a pioneering trial of the novel coronavirus.
/ Screenshots from the Guardian
NHS hospitals and the North Central London intensive care network will work closely to ensure the volunteers are given 24-hour care and that the research does not affect the ability of UK healthcare staff to care for other confirmed patients.
After completing the tests, all volunteers were tested twice for the virus, and only those who were both negative were allowed to leave the isolation facility.
The volunteers will then be followed up for another 12 months to see if they have long-term symptoms.
Volunteers who took part in the human challenge were not paid, but would receive compensation of around £4,500, The Guardian said.
So far, the British government has funded the research with an estimated 33.6 million pounds.
The research will be carried out by the government’s Vaccine Task Force, Imperial College London, the Royal Free NHS Trust in London and leading clinical company Hvivo.
The study could give scientists insight into how the body’s immune system responds to novel coronavirus, CNN reported.
At the same time, once a preliminary study has been conducted, scientists will also be able to test the effectiveness of the candidate vaccine candidate by vaccinating some volunteers during the trial, which has proved to be safe, and thus move the development process forward.
Up to 90 healthy volunteers will be exposed to Novel Coronavirus in the first global trial.
/ Screenshot from CNN
Human challenge testing remains controversial
According to the British government’s website, similar human challenges have been carried out safely for decades and have played an important role in the treatment of diseases such as malaria, cholera, norovirus and flu.
In a statement released in May 2020, the World Health Organization said that human challenge testing is ethical when certain criteria are met, but, more importantly, trials should be conducted within an ethical framework in which volunteers are fully informed and their decisions are taken in a deliberate and careful manner.
According to the Washington Post, some public health experts believe that human challenge testing has played a key role in developing a vaccine and treating patients with a confirmed diagnosis.
“While the vaccine developed so far is effective against the majority of circulating variants of Novel coronavirus, the human challenge test could give us the ability to rapidly test other vaccine candidates,” said Robert Reid, a professor of infectious diseases at the University of Southampton in the UK.
Clive Dix, head of the UK’s Vaccine Task Force, said: “There are already safe and effective vaccines available in the UK, but it is vital that we continue to develop new vaccines and treatments for novel coronavirus.”
“We hope that the Human Challenge Trial will provide unique insights into how Novel coronavirus is transmitted and help us understand which vaccine candidates best prevent infection,” Dix added.
The world’s first “human challenge trial” for novel coronavirus, which infects healthy volunteers, has been approved in the UK.
/ Screenshots from The Washington Post
However, such tests are controversial because healthy volunteers are deliberately exposed to the virus.
With more than 15 million people in the UK having had their first dose of the vaccine so far, some have questioned the need to challenge human trials.
Terence Stephenson, chairman of the UK’s Health Research Agency, said: “Families and friends are not able to see volunteers during isolation, which puts a lot of pressure on young people aged 18 to 30.”
Jacob Hopkins, 23, who is about to become a volunteer, told The Washington Post, “I don’t know the real risk, but I’ve been heavily screened, and for someone who is young and healthy, the risk of this study seems very small.”
Hopkins stresses that his biggest concern is the potential long-term effects, “but that’s not enough to make me change my mind.”
England reappears with the novel coronavirus
According to research published by Imperial College London, the rate of infection in England has fallen by two-thirds since the massive blockade was introduced in January 2020, with the rate in London falling by around 80%.
However, children aged 5 to 12 years and young people aged 18 to 24 years remain at high levels of illness.
Meanwhile, between February 4 and February 13, one in 200 people tested positive for the virus, meaning it continues to spread.
According to the report released by the British government on February 17, 12,718 new cases were confirmed in the UK in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to more than 4.08 million.
There were 738 new deaths, bringing the total number of deaths to more than 119,000.
UK outbreak data.
/ Screenshot from a British government website
More worrying is the discovery in Britain of a new variant called novel coronavirus.
A mutant novel coronavirus known as B.1.525 has been found, Public Health England said in a statement on Tuesday.
So far, 38 people have been infected, including 36 in England and two in Wales, with samples of the mutant novel coronavirus dating back to December 2020.
“B.1.525” has now been classified by Public Health England as an “under investigation” variant of novel coronavirus and is being studied by public health experts to understand the possible risks posed by this variant.
A new variant of the novel coronavirus has been discovered in Britain.
/ Screenshot from the BBC report
According to Public Health England, the B.1.525 mutant novel coronavirus, known as E484K, has been found in Denmark, Nigeria and the United States.
The mutation has also been observed in a variant novel coronavirus found in Brazil and South Africa, and is thought to help it evade the body’s immune system defenses.
Andrew Hayward, an epidemiologist at University College London, said: “Fortunately, this mutant novel coronavirus does not appear to be spreading as fast as other strains and remains at very low levels of transmission, but we need to keep a close eye on it to prevent what could happen.”
According to the latest news, researchers in the New Mexico laboratory in the United States, the first time in a virus sample found a variant of the virus strain “B.1.1.7” found in the United Kingdom and the United States found a variant of the strain “B.1.429” found in California.
Scientists fear that this combination will evolve into a new strain that is more infectious and resistant to drugs.