Plasma Therapy may be removed from COVID treatment guidelines: ICMR chief Balram Bhargava

The Indian Council of Medical Research chief Balram Bhargava on Tuesday hinted that the Convalescent Plasma Therapy may be removed from the national guideline for the treatment of Coronavirus after an ICMR study revealed that it did not help in reducing mortality or slow the progression of COVID-19.

"We are discussing with the national task force on COVID-19 management and with the joint monitoring group that may be deleted from the national treatment guidelines on COVID," Bhargava said during the Union Health Ministry briefing on Tuesday.

Revelations by ICMR

The ICMR has made these revelations upon investigating the effectiveness of plasma therapy for the treatment of COVID-19 after conducting a study in 39 hospitals across India.

The ICMR said that its researchers conducted an open-label, parallel-arm, phase II, multicentre, and randomized controlled trial from April 22 to July 14 adding that the trial was registered with the Clinical Trial Registry of India (CTRI) for the purpose.

"Convalescent plasma was not associated with reduction in mortality or progression to severe COVID-19. This trial has high generalized ability and approximates real-life setting of convalescent plasma therapy in settings with limited laboratory capacity. A priori measurement of neutralizing antibody titres in donors and participants may further clarify the role of CP in the management of COVID-19," concluded the findings of the study.

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India's fight against COVID-19

Despite having the world's second-largest population, India has fared better against COVID-19 as compared to other advanced nations such as the US, the UK and other European nations. The daily caseload of COVID-19 has seen a substantial decrease from a daily caseload of above 95,000 infections to the figure dropping below 47,000 on Monday.

India reported 46,791 new COVID-19 cases and 587 deaths in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 75,97,063, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW). As per the MoHFW, the number of active cases stands at 7,48,538 and the number of cured/discharged/migrated people stands at 67,33,329 while the death toll has reached 1,15,197.

India has one of the highest recovery rates in the world at 88.60% while the fatality rate is one of the lowest. PM Modi has still urged people to not be complacent as the fight against the pandemic is still goes on until a potential vaccine is developed and available for masses. India's recovery rate is one of the highest in the world at 88.60% while the fatality rate is one of the lowest. Also, the government is conducting COVID-19 tests across the country in mission mode with over 10 lakh samples being tested on a daily basis. On Monday, 10,32,795 samples were tested in the country, taking the total count of COVID-19 tests to 9,61,16,771. India stands second in the world for the most number of COVID-19 tests in the world.

(with inputs from ANI)

(Image credit: PTI)

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