Coronavirus update: Health ministry spokesperson calls plasma therapy ‘illegal’

Million-plus cases in the US

Published on:

23 Apr 2020, 12:54 am

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) did not advise plasma therapy for treating the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), said Lav Agarwal, joint secretary with the Union health ministry. He even termed it ‘illegal’, but did not cite a specific law. Many states, including Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana and Delhi, have approved the procedue receiving the ICMR’s nod.

The ICMR later tweeted:

Currently, there are no approved, definitive therapies for #COVID19. Convalescent plasma is one of the several emerging therapies. However, there is no robust evidence to support it for routine therapy. @US_FDA has also viewed it as an experimental therapy (IND). 1/4
— ICMR (@ICMRDELHI) April 28, 2020

India’s active case count reached to 22,010 April 28, 2020 evening from 21,632 in the morning, according to the ministry.
The death toll from the ensuing disease (COVID-19) reached 937.
Until now, 7,026 have been cured / discharged.
The total tallhy reached 29,974.

Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi remained worrisome while West Bengal has emerged as a cause for concern.
The global active case count was over 1.9 million.