Doctors will conduct the clinical trial of plasma enrichment technique to treat severely-ill coronavirus patients in the next three to four days, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Thursday.
He said the condition of several COVID-19 patients, who were admitted to hospitals in the last week of March and first week of April, is improving and many of them will be discharged soon.
Addressing an online briefing, the chief minister said, "If the trial of plasma technique is successful, we will be able to save the lives of serious COVID-19 patients." Under the plasma enrichment technique, antibodies from the blood of patients who have recovered from COVID-19 are used to treat severely infected patients. It is aimed at assessing the efficacy of convalescent plasma to limit complications in COVID-patients Kejriwal said the Delhi government had on Tuesday received permission from the Centre to conduct the trial of plasma technique.
Highlighting that some other states such as Kerala and Maharashtra too were working on it, Kejriwal said, "Our efforts will succeed".
He further said that sanitisation drives had begun in the city's containment zones and every individual living in there need no be tested for COVID-19.
The government's 'Operation SHIELD' has been successful in Dilshad Garden as there has been no new case of COVID-19 case in the last 15 days, he said.
"Due to 'Operation SHIELD', there has also been no new case in Vasundra Enclave in the last 15 days. Also, there is no case of coronavirus in Kichripur," he said.
"With collective efforts, we will be able to contain coronavirus in Delhi," Kejriwal said.
He said 15 lakh people in the national capital have applied for ration cards and the Delhi government has been providing food to 10 lakh people everyday.
The chief minister requested the people and media to inform the government if any needy doesn't get food.
"The government has arrangements to provide food to 20 lakh people everyday. There is no shortage of food," he said.
Thee total number of coronavirus cases in the national capital on Wednesday increased to nearly 1580, with 17 fresh cases and two deaths being reported in a day.
Of the total cases, 1080 are of those who have been brought to facilities through special operations.
