New UK challenge trial studies if people can catch coronavirus again

FILE PHOTO: A 3D-printed coronavirus model is seen in front of a British flag on display in this illustration taken March 25, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists on Monday launched a trial which will deliberately expose participants who have already had COVID-19 to the coronavirus again to examine immune responses and see if people get reinfected.

In February, Britain became the first country in the world to give the go-ahead for so-called "challenge trials" in humans, in which volunteers are deliberately exposed to COVID-19 to advance research into the disease caused by the coronavirus.