New Delhi,
Members of Tablighi Jamaat are volunteering to donate blood for plasma therapy.
In this regard, 10 members of Tablighi Jamaat, who attended its congregation and tested positive for COVID-19 have come forward and donated their plasma to treat severally-ill coronavirus patients in New Delhi.
Officials said those who have come forward to donate their plasma have recovered from COVID-19 at the Sultanpuri and Narela quarantine centres.
“Many more have volunteered to donate their plasma,” they added. Farooq Basa, from the southern state of Tamil Nadu, was among the first 10 Jamaat volunteers who donated plasma on Sunday, the first day of the campaign. “The media had demonised us after some of us had tested positive for the virus. But by the grace of Allah this will help improve our image,” he said.
Anas Sayed, who also donated blood on Sunday said: “We had a difficult few weeks when everyone went after us and held us responsible for the spread of the virus. When the Maulana made the appeal we decided to volunteer.” Agencies
No evidence that plasma can be used for COVID-19 treatment; Health Ministry:
The Health Ministry on Tuesday said currently plasma therapy is at experimental stage and there is no evidence yet to support that it can be used as treatment for COVID-19.
Addressing a press briefing, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said currently there are no approved therapies for COVID-19 and there is not enough evidence to claim that plasma therapy can be used for treatment of the disease.
“ICMR has launched a national-level study to study efficacy of plasma therapy in treatment of COVID 19,” he said.
“Till ICMR concludes its study and a robust scientific proof is available, plasma therapy should be used only for research or trial purpose. If plasma therapy is not used in proper manner under proper guidelines, then it can also cause life threatening complications,” said Agarwal.
The official said that the doubling rate of coronavirus cases now stands at 10.2 days.
He further said that in the last 24 hours, 1,543 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported, taking the total cases to 29,435. “6,868 COVID-19 patients, which is 23.3 per cent of total cases, have recovered so far,” he added. ( PTI )
