NOVOSIBIRKS, April 1. /TASS/. Scientists from Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine are ready to develop a coronavirus cure, based on coronavirus survivors’ blood, in 30 days, the Institute press service said.
"The experimental medicine for specific coronavirus infection therapy will be an enriched fraction of human blood antiviral immunoglobulins, extracted from plasma of patients who recovered from the coronavirus. Its development is expected to take 30 days," the press service said.
According to the press service, some 500 ml of coronavirus survivor’s blood plasma is needed to make a cure. The medicine is expected to be administered intravenously. The scientists believe that this medicine will be completely sterile and non-pyrogenic. To develop the medicine, the scientists need 6 million rubles ($76,482) in funding.
In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.
On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. To date, more than 850,000 people have been infected worldwide and over 42,000 deaths have been reported.
So far, a total of 2,777 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 190 patients having recovered from the illness. The country’s latest data indicates 24 fatalities nationwide.