>Volunteers could be paid £3,500 to be infected with the coronavirus as scientists race to find a vaccine.
The Queen Mary BioEnterprises Innovation Centre, London, is recruiting 24 people for the study. They will be injected with two weaker strains of the deadly virus – which has killed more than 3,800 people worldwide – giving them similar respiratory symptoms.
Participants will be injected with two less serious strains of the virus, called 0C43 and 229E.
To get the pay check, participants must stay in quarantine for two weeks and eat a restricted diet. They aren't allowed to have contact with anyone else or exercise.
Doctors working on the study will assess their response to the vaccine while wearing protective clothing and ventilators.
The testing is part of a $2bn global effort to find a vaccine for coronavirus, as Europe has experienced a huge surge in cases in the past two weeks.
Researchers in Seattle have also begun recruiting healthy volunteers to participate in a clinical trial for a vaccine developed by the biotechnology company Moderna Therapeutics, according to The Wall Street Journal.
