Recovered COVID-19 patients urged to donate plasma

Doctors have called on recovered COVID-19 patients to donate blood as plasma taken from recovered patients contains a high concentration of antibodies and has proven very effective in the treatment of patients in severe conditions.

Twenty-eight recovered COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospital in Shanghai on Friday. Six are willing to donate plasma for further research to combat novel coronavirus pneumonia, media reported.

Plasma extracted from blood donated by recovered patients is used to make products that are the most effective treatment for COVID-19 when there is no drug or vaccine. These products can significantly lower the fatality rate of patients in severe conditions, the China National Biotec Group (CNBG), the country’s largest biotech firm, said on Sina Weibo on Thursday. CNBG is one of the main developers of the products.

Zhang Dingyu, director of Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan, a designated hospital for the treatment of COVID-19, called for recovered patients to donate blood, which contains a high concentration of antibodies, during a press conference on Thursday.

More than 10 severe cases had improved after receiving plasma products made using recovered patients’ blood in epicenter city Wuhan, the State Council Information Office announced on Thursday.

The therapy was used in 2003 to treat severe SARS cases in China, a Beijing-based public health expert told the Global Times on the condition of anonymity.