The novel coronavirus has infected 119,476 people across the globe taking 4,291 lives. 62 cases have been confirmed in India and people are performing special pujas, singing songs and burning effigies in the absence of a cure for the disease.
According to TIME, the University of Nebraska is testing an experimental drug and Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute is conducting research for a COVID-19 vaccine.
Queen Mary BioEnterprises Innovation Centre in London is also looking for volunteers so that they can test a vaccine for the company hVIVO. Each volunteer will be given $4,588 (Rs.3.3 lakh) to participate in the study, reports NY Post.
According to Mail Online, if the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency gives hVIVO the green signal, 24 people will be selected after a series of tests. Each volunteer will first be injected with two weaker strains of the virus namely 0C43 and 229E and then given the vaccine(s) in testing.
Doctors will study how the vaccine responds to the mild respiratory symptoms similar to COVID-19 during a two-week quarantine period. During this time, patients would be on a restricted diet sans outside contact and exercise. The paid clinical research called FluCamp is currently inviting participants from within the UK who are 18 or older.
Apart from this, the World Health Organization has listed down 35 candidate vaccines from developers like Inovio Pharmaceuticals, University of Oxford, Sanofi Pasteur etc. We hope that their research helps combat this deadly outbreak.