NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday said that the government will soon start plasma transfusion trials for treating the coronavirus-infected patients. Addressing a video-conference, the Delhi CM said, “Trial of Plasma Enrichment technique will start in the next 3-4 days. If successful, we can save the lives of serious COVID-19 patients.’’
The CM said that the Delhi government will take every measure possible to prevent loss of lives due to COVID-19 infections.
Delhi is starting plasma transfusion trials for treating Corona patients. We will take every measure possible to prevent loss of lives https://t.co/jYmRP5Gwx1
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) April 16, 2020
The AAP chief further informed that the Central government has given the approval for starting the plasma technique for treating COVID-19 patients.
Under the plasma enrichment technique, antibodies from the blood of patients who have recovered from COVID-19 are used to treat severely infected patients. It is aimed at assessing the efficacy of convalescent plasma to limit complications in COVID-19 patients.
Taking about other issues, the Chief Minister said that around 15 lakh people have applied for ration cards. ''We are providing food to 10 lakh people every day,’’ he added.
He further informed that the condition of several COVID-19 patients is improving and in the next 3-4 days, many of them will be discharged from hospital.
According to the Health Ministry, the total number of COVID-19 cases in India stands at 12,380 and the death toll at 414 as of now.
As many as 941 fresh cases and 37 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said, adding 183 people have recovered and discharged during the same time period.
India received the much-awaited five lakh rapid COVID-19 testing kits from China on Thursday, the government said. The Head of Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases at ICMR, Dr. Raman R Gangakhedkar, however, said these testing kits will be used for surveillance and to monitor whether coronavirus hotspots in the country are increasing or decreasing.
