Kerala is all set to begin a new kind of experiment to check if blood samples of recovered coronavirus patients can be used to treat infected patients. This has been a successful method in South Korea where two elderly patients got treated from pneumonia with plasma treatment.

On Wednesday, the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) approved a protocol for convalescent plasma therapy which was presented by a task force of doctors and scientists constituted by the Kerala government. It was confirmed Kerala principal secretary of health Dr Rajan N Khobragade that ICMR has given approval to Kerala for convalescent plasma therapy.

Kerala is now set to become the first state in India to begin the experimental therapy. Convalescent plasma therapy involves transfusing patients with plasma obtained from the recovered people, as they would have developed antibodies to the virus that causes Covid-19.