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Covid-19: Rajasthan reports 130 new cases; state set to start plasma therapy
State health minister Raghu Sharma, however, allayed the apprehensions about the spike of Covid-19 positive cases in Rajasthan and said that nine patients are critical and among them only one is on ventilator support.
Rajasthan reported 130 new coronavirus disease (Covid-19) positive cases, including 76 and 15 from Jodhpur and Jaipur, respectively, and six fresh deaths on Monday, as the desert state has recorded 3,016 cases so far.
Jaipur, the state capital, has reported 1,008 Covid-19 positive cases till 2 pm on Monday. While Jodhpur has reported 708 cases to date.
State health minister Raghu Sharma, however, allayed the apprehensions about the spike of Covid-19 positive cases in Rajasthan and said that nine patients are critical and among them only one is on ventilator support.
Rohit Kumar Singh, additional chief secretary, state health department, said of the six new Covid-19 related deaths four and two occurred in Jaipur and Jodhpur, respectively.
A 70-year-old-man from Jaipur’s walled city died at Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital on Sunday, Singh said.
Another walled city resident, a 58-year-old man, died on at the SMS Hospital on Sunday a day after he was admitted. One more 75-year-old person from the same neighbourhood tested Covid-19 positive on Sunday and was brought dead at the SMS Hospital, he said.
A 52-year-old man from Jhotwara, who was admitted to SMS Hospital on Friday, died on Sunday after undergoing surgery for prolapsed intervertebral disk, he added.
“Pali and Chittorgarh reported 11 and 19 new Covid-19 positive cases, respectively. Kota recorded three cases, Rajsamand two, Bikaner, Alwar, Udaipur and Dholpur one each. So far, 1,394 Covid-19 patients have recovered and 937 have been discharged from hospitals,” Singh said.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan is set to begin convalescent plasma therapy clinical trials to treat Covid-19 patients, as it has obtained permission from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot said the state has got ICMR’s nod and has made all necessary arrangements for the plasma therapy trials as per the protocol.
The Centre, however, has stressed that plasma therapy is still at an experimental stage and should not be used for the treatment of Covid-19 patients till it gets the ICMR nod, as it could lead to life-threatening complications.
Convalescent plasma therapy entails taking antibodies from recovered and healthy Covid-19 patients and injecting them in the blood of those whose condition is stated to be serious.
A team of doctors at the SMS Hospital has studied the feasibility and technique of conducting plasma therapy on critical Covid-19 patients. The team comprises Dr Sanjiv Bhandari, principal, SMS Hospital; Dr Sunita Bundas, in-charge of the blood bank; and Dr Raman Sharma, the head of medicine department; and Dr Ajeet Singh, a senior physician.
The team conducted tests and research over a week in mid-April and agreed to conduct plasma therapy trials after which the state government sought the ICMR’s permission.
“The concept of plasma therapy is to inject antibodies taken from the plasma of a recovered Covid-19 patient into a critical patient,” Dr Sharma said.
“An antibody is a passive vaccine that helps to bring down the viral load in a patient. It’s given through blood transfusion and mops up the virus particles and controls the infection. SMS Hospital has several recovered and healthy patients, whom we’ll request to donate plasma,” he added.
Dr Bundas said the plasma transfusion is done through a machine, which separates the plasma from the blood. “The quantity of plasma extracted from a donor ranges between 300 and 500 millilitres, and the transfusion process can range from 60 to 90 minutes,” she added.
