SCIENTISTS IN UK ARE ABOUT TO INTENTIONALLY ‘INFECT’ 2,500 PEOPLE WITH COVID-19

New strains of COVID–19 have once again led to rising fears about the future. There is still much more to be learned about the deadly virus and now reports say that Scientists in the UK are ready for the first “human challenge Covid trials”.

In order to get to know the virus better, Scientists in the UK are ‘infecting’ 2500 healthy volunteers with COVID-19. Throughout the study, they will attempt to understand how the virus behaves in the body, and how much time it takes for the virus to develop, the sun reported.

The UK government has backed the research with $45 million of funding. The project will be undertaken by the imperial college, the national Health Service’s Royal Free Hospital, along with pharmaceutical company hVIVO.

Starting from January, the volunteers aged between 18-30 will be given an experimental nasal vaccine, after which they will be infected with the virus. All volunteers are to be paid $5,300 (close to 3.7 lakh INR) for their three-week stay at a hospital, where they will be monitored all day and night, as reported by Mail online.

While many volunteers say that through this study, they will be doing their bit to stop the pandemic, numerous questions have been raised about infecting healthy people with a virus.

COVID-19 HAD A LASTING IMPACT ON EDUCATION OF 1.4 BILLION STUDENTS

Due to the pandemic, on March 23, 2020, 138 countries ordered national school closures, while more had localised closures.

WORLD’S STUDENTS STILL HIT BY SCHOOL CLOSURES

Countries with country-wide or localized school lockdown

In India more than 32 crores of students have been affected by the various restrictions and the nationwide lockdown for COVID-19.

As per UNESCO report, about 14 crores of primary and 13 crores of secondary students are affected which are two mostly affected levels in India.

463 MILLION STUDENTS CUT OFF FROM REMOTE LEARNING

COVID–19 pandemic is raging on and while it has had a lasting impact across the world, it has also left a dent on education.

Even through remote learning seems like a viable option, large parts of the world don’t even have access to it.

According to a recent UNICEF report, at least 460 million students across the globe cannot be reached with remote learning programs, because they simply lack access to the necessary devices or infrastructure.