Coronavirus: Plasma therapy has yielded positive results initially, says Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal

Four Covid-19 patients, who underwent plasma therapy, in the national capital are recovering well, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday as he appealed to those who recovered to donate plasma.

The Centre has allowed the Delhi government to conduct human trials for plasma therapy in Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan hospital to treat Covid-19 patients.

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"In the last few days, we have tried plasma therapy on four patients and the therapy has yielded positive results. I appeal to the recovered patients to donate their plasma to help other patients recover and contain the fatalities caused by the deadly virus," Kejriwal said.

He also said that Delhi would ask for permission from the centre to use plasma therapy for all serious Covid-19 patients based on the next trials of the therapy.

Also Read: Coronavirus India update: State-wise total number of confirmed cases

Dr SK Sarin, Director of Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences who heads the Delhi government team that monitors Covid-19 cases, said this virus has three phases, first is when the virus enters the body, second is the pulmonary phase which affects the lungs and causes difficulty in breathing. The third phase is when cytokines are released which produce substances that can kill the virus.

"The third stage involves high risk as it can lead to organ failure. If the person is treated through plasma therapy in the second stage itself, we can neutralize the virus as well as stop organ failure. So, we can treat a person who is in the second stage and has not reached the third stage. We have seen positive results of plasma therapy in the first four patients," he said.

"We will also be testing the therapy on 2-3 patients in the LNH hospital, and I hope that it works for the better. Our main aim through this therapy is to not let any sick person reach the third stage, which we call the 'cytokine storm', and cure their lung infection as well. But along with the benefits, we also have to know that only the people who have recovered from Covid-19 will have to give their blood. We need people to show their patriotism by donating blood so the others can be treated," he said.

He said we lost people because we did not get blood from anywhere. "Our team was depressed thinking whether we do not have such people who are willing to help other people."