Hvivo, which owns the Queen Mary BioEnterprises Innovation Centre in east London, is looking for volunteers willing to be injected with the 0C43 and 229E strains of the coronavirus as part of research into the development of a vaccine.

These strains are far less serious than the COVID-19 strain currently spreading across the world, giving them similar respiratory symptoms.

Volunteers selected for the program will be compensated to the tune of £3,500, or about $4,500, according to the Daily Star and the Daily Mail.

Volunteers will be kept in isolation and on a restricted diet for two weeks with no exercise or physical contact with any other person.

Hvivo's plans still need to be approved by the UK's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency before any testing can begin.