Delhi's COVID tally nears one-lakh mark; no need to worry, says Kejriwal

NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday appealed to hospitals to counsel their COVID-19 patients to donate plasma after 14 days of recovery from the disease, noting that the number of donors is yet to pick pace.

As the city's coronavirus tally neared the one-lakh mark, the chief minister said there is no need to worry about the figure as around 72,000 people have already recovered from the virus.

Addressing an online media briefing, Kejriwal said that there has been a major spike in demand for plasma over the past 4-5 days, after the opening of the country''''s first plasma bank in Delhi.

"The number of plasma donors is less, while the number of people demanding plasma is huge. If it continues, the stock of plasma at the plasma bank will finish soon.

" I request recovered coronavirus patients to come forward and donate their plasma in large numbers," he said.
Kejriwal urges recovered COVID-19 patients to donate plasma

Kejriwal said his teams were also contacting such people and requesting them to donate plasma to save the lives of COVID-19 patients.

Last week, the government had set up the plasma bank at the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS).

"I also appeal to all hospitals to counsel their COVID-19 patients for five minutes to donate their plasma after 14 days of recovery from the disease," he said.

Plasma is effective in reducing the risk of death, he said.

Plasma therapy involves taking antibodies from the blood of a person who has recovered from COVID-19 and transfusing those into a coronavirus infected patient to help kick-start the immune system to fight the infection.

Terming plasma donors as "people's hope" in the wake of rising number of COVID-19 cases, the chief minister requested RWAs to honour plasma donor.

He also said that Delhi at present has 15,000 COVID-19 beds of which only 5,100 are occupied.

The chief minister said 20,000-24,000 tests are being conducted every day in the national capital, adding that there has also been decline in number of people admitting to hospitals.

At present, there are around 25,000 active cases in Delhi and of these, 15,000 people are currently in home-isolation.

On Sunday, Delhi recorded 2,505 fresh coronavirus cases, taking the tally close to the one-lakh mark, while the death toll from the disease mounted to 3,067.