The Indian Council of Medical research has said that it is in the final stages of framing a protocol for conducting clinical trials for convalescent plasma therapy, which involves infusion of blood plasma collected from people who have recovered from Covid-19 into severely ill patients, The Indian Express reported on Friday.

The top medical body, however, clarified that this be will done only in clinical trials and is meant for Covid-19 patients who are in critical condition

“We are in the final stages of making a protocol for convalescent plasma therapy and after that we will need approval from the Drug Controller General of India,” Dr Manoj Murhekar, Director of ICMR-National Institute of Epidemiology told the newspaper. “It will be done on a trial basis. Abroad, it has been found successful in limited trials. Here we will do it only on patients on ventilator or severe patients.”

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On Thursday, ICMR gave approval to Kerala to begin trials for convalescent plasma therapy, PTI reported. The Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology in Thiruvananthapuram is likely to start the trials by the end of April after approvals from the Drugs Controller of India.

The top medical body on Thursday also updated its testing strategy for Covid-19 to allow tests for people in health ministry-designated “hotspots” or “clusters” who show influenza-like symptoms.

Doctors in China have found that seriously ill Covid-19 patients can benefit from infusions of blood plasma from those who have recovered from the disease. In one study, cited by The Guardian, doctors in Wuhan – the epicentre of the novel coronavirus pandemic – gave “convalescent plasma” to 10 patients and found that infection in their bodies reduced rapidly. The patients showed improvement within three days.

The number of coronavirus cases in India rose to 6,412, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s figures on Friday showed. Out of the total cases in the country, 199 patients have died, and 5,709 are being treated.