Coronavirus: UK becomes first country to back studies that would deliberately infect volunteers with COVID-19

The studies would be conducted by Imperial College London in partnership with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust and hVivo, a company that has experience conducting testing.

Supporters of the studies say the approach can produce results faster than standard research, as there is no waiting for volunteers to become exposed to the disease - which could potentially save thousands of lives. Critics argue it is unethical to deliberately infect people with a disease, but supporters say the risk is low and volunteers are carefully selected.Dr Chris Chiu, from Imperial College London and lead researcher on the human challenge study, said:"Our number one priority is the safety of the volunteers. My team has been safely running human challenge studies with other respiratory viruses for over 10 years.

"No study is completely risk-free, but the Human Challenge Programme partners will be working hard to ensure we make the risks as low as we possibly can."

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