The government on Tuesday denied that plasma therapy was being seen as a possible treatment for novel coronavirus.
At the press briefing, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said that currently there were no approved therapies for treatment of novel coronavirus, including plasma therapy.
“ICMR has already stated clearly that currently there are no approved therapies for COVID-19 including plasma therapy. It is one of the many therapies which are being experimented with. However, so far there is no evidence to support it as a treatment, the ministry said.
“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 ministry added.
The Health Ministry today issued guidelines for home isolation of people who either have very mild COVID-19 symptoms or are in the pre-symptomatic phase.
Such patients with requisite self-isolation facility at their residence will now have the option for home isolation, Agarwal said.
The number of cases in the country has risen to 29,974, with 937 deaths. There are 22,010 active cases while 7,026 have been cured/discharged, according to Health Ministry website.
