Hyderabad Police Arrest Fake Plasma Donor For Cheating People by Posing as COVID-19 Recovered Patient

Hyderabad, July 20: A 25-year-old man was arrested on Monday by Hyderabad police for cheating people in the guise of donating plasma and supplying antiviral medicine. The man has been identified as Sandeep Reddy. He is a resident of Andhra Pradesh’s Srikakulam. The accused duped people by posing as COVID-19 recovered patient. What Is Plasma Therapy? Can It Treat COVID-19? Who Can Donate Plasma in the Fight Against Coronavirus?

According to a report published in Telangana Today, Reddy had contacted several people who posted appeals on social media asking COVID-19 recovered patients to donate plasma for needy persons. The accused also contacted people who asked for antiviral drugs like Tocilizumab 400 mg. He collected money from such people and never communicated with them again. 'Project Platina', World's Largest Plasma Therapy Trial, Launched by Maharashtra Government.

So far, Reddy cheated around 200 people. “On the pretext of transportation charges, the man collected money from the families of the patients and later stopped communicating with them,” reported the media house quoting G Chakravarthy, Additional DCP Task Force as saying. After the arrest, he was handed over to the Punjagutta police for further interrogation.

Convalescent plasma therapy involves a treatment procedure that includes the use of antibodies from the blood of humans who have recovered from COVID-19. This is being aimed at critically infected coronavirus patients.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 20, 2020 11:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).