It sounds tempting: a payment of £3,500 to spend two weeks relaxing in front of the television, playing video games or catching up on some reading. There is a catch, however — you will be infected with a coronavirus and banned from physical contact with the outside world.

As part of a global experiment, up to 24 people at a time will be paid to be infected with a coronavirus in a $2bn (£1.53bn) race to find a vaccine for Covid-19.

Hvivo, the company that runs the quarantine unit in a laboratory in east London, is one of more than 20 firms and public sector organisations taking part in a global effort to develop a vaccine for the virus, which has killed more than 3,500