New Delhi (NVI): There are no approved therapies for COVID-19 currently including plasma therapy, the Union Ministry of Health said today while making it clear that it is one of the many therapies which are being experimented with.
“There is no approved therapy for Covid-19 in the country including Plasma therapy. Plasma therapy is being experimented with and there is no evidence to support it as a treatment. It is only at an experimental stage. If not used properly, it can create life-threatening complications,” said Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary in Health Ministry, during the daily media briefing today.
So far there is no evidence to support it as a treatment, the ministry said in a statement today, adding that ICMR has also started a National Study to evaluate the efficacy of the therapy.
“However, it needs to be clarified that until ICMR concludes its study and robust scientific proof is available, it should not be used except for research and trial purposes. In fact, use of plasma therapy may have life threatening complications. ICMR has already issued detailed guidelines in this regard for the use of plasma therapy outside the study purposes,” the health ministry statement read.
The government’s clarification regarding the therapy comes amid media reports that it is helping in the recovery of virus-infected patients.
Apart from that, the Health Ministry said that as of today, there are 17 districts in the country where earlier cases had come, but now no new case has been reported for the last 28 days.
“The number of these districts has increased by 1 (two new districts have been added whereas one has been dropped from the previous list) since yesterday. The districts that got added to the list are Kalimpong (West Bengal) & Wayanad (Kerala). The district which was removed from this list is Lakhisarai (Bihar),” the ministry said in a statement.
As of now, 6,868 people have been cured with a recovery rate of 23.3%. A total of 29,435 people have been confirmed positive as of now for COVID-19 in India, according to the ministry.
