Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday said that plasma therapy trials – transfusion of plasma from a person who has recovered from Covid-19 to a patient in critical condition – have been conducted on four patients in the Capital. He added that the results so far had been encouraging.

“We [the Delhi government] had been given permission by the Centre to conduct the trials on severely ill patients at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital,” Kejriwal said at a press briefing. “In the last few days, we conducted the trials on four patients and so far, the results have been encouraging.”

The Director of Institute of Liver and Biliary Science Dr SK Sarin, who is supervising the plasma therapy trials in the Capital, said that the procedure can help prevent organ failure in patients in critical condition. “If we administer plasma to patients in the second stage, when the infection reaches the lungs, we can prevent organ failure,” he said.

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“We are happy with the results delivered by plasma therapy trials on four patients,” Sarin added.

Kejriwal said that two of the patients who had been given the plasma on Tuesday may soon be moved out of the intensive care unit. The chief minister added that other two patients were given the plasma on Thursday and they are showing positive results.

The chief minister added that they will ask the Centre for permission to conduct plasma therapy trials on all Covid-19 patients in Delhi. “We will conduct trials on more patients,” he said. “We will soon ask the Centre for permission to treat all critically ill patients in Delhi. He appealed to recovered Covid-19 patients to donate plasma and help save the lives of seriously ill people.

Last month, the Indian Council of Medical research had said that plasma therapy will be done only in clinical trials and is meant for Covid-19 patients who are in critical condition.

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, 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.

Delhi so far has 2,376 cases of the coronavirus, according to data from the Union health ministry. Fifty patients have died of Covid-19 in the Capital, while more than 800 have recovered.