Coronavirus in India: 22,454 People Cured from COVID-19 Infection in the Country So Far

As on May 12, 22,454 people have been cured from coronavirus infection in India, as per ministry of Health’s data while active number of patients stand at 46,008. The good recovery rate has brought a glimmer of hope for the entire country especially when India is seeing a steady surge in cases.

While yesterday the world commemorated the selfless dedication of nurses on International Nursing Day and paid gratitude to them, it is not just the healthcare personnel but in fact the cured coronavirus patients too that can serve the nation in pandemic by reducing panic and spreading awareness. India Reports 3,525 Coronavirus Cases, 122 Deaths in Past 24 Hours; COVID-19 Tally Rises to 74,281, Death Toll Stands at 2,415.

Anjan Trikha, Chairperson of clinical managerial group for Covid, AIIMS trauma centre said threw light on the responsibilities of cured patients. “The first and foremost social responsibility of the patients is to spread the word that this disease is not that bad as the social media is trying to portray. The mortality levels are very less as compared to the other diseases. If they abide by doctor’s prescription then patients can be cured with early treatment.”

Mentioning about existing ailments and comorbidities he said, “If you have old people at home or have hypertension, diabetes or malignancies then such individuals should stay away from younger people going out. There is a saying in other countries that ‘Stop hugging your grandparents or that grandparents should not hug the young people at home’ to avoid the spread of disease as they have low immunity”.

Mr. Trikha suggested that patients can safely donate their blood for plasma therapy and iterated that plasma therapy is nothing new and has been there in medical practices for 60-70 years.

“ICMR has accepted over 20-24 centres for Plasma therapy trials and we are one of them. The advice is for the cured patients to visit these centres after 14 days of the diseases being cured and after giving two tests that come negative or after 24-28 days after being cured of disease as per the new guidelines. Once you come to plasma collection centres, your blood would be checked and a blood donation procedure shall be carried out. Patients must realise only Plasma is taken from the body and all the red blood cells go back to your body. It is to be noted that it is very unlikely that you will catch any infection while you donate plasma.”

While ICMR had not given clearance for treatment of Covid 19 positive patients through plasma therapy suggesting it can have fatal outcomes, it was on May 8th that with the approval of ethics committee that ICMR cleared conduction of a multicentric phase-2 trial using convalescent plasma therapy for Covid 19 positive patients with moderate illness.

As of 11th May, 2020, ICMR had approved 35 institutions for the phase 2 trials known as PLACID Trial to test safety and efficacy of the Plasma therapy.