MOSCOW, April 24. /TASS/. It is too early to discuss mass treatment of COVID-19 patients with blood plasma in Russia, although some promising results have been achieved, Vladimir Chulanov, deputy chief of the National Medical Research Center for Phthisiopulmonology and Infectious Diseases under the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, told reporters on Friday.

"The treatment of patients with the plasma of those recovered was used in China during the epidemic; it is also being used in European states. <…> There are not so many results in Moscow so far: a small number of patients received treatment with the plasma with some good results, however, it is too early to talk about some large-scale implications. However, it is clear that this needs to be done, this is justified and logical," the expert said.

Chulanov explained that treating patients with blood plasma of those already recovered is not a new method. "There is some logic in it, as the people who have recovered from the disease become immune to the infection, and their blood, their blood plasma contains antibodies: immune proteins that can neutralize the virus itself. So it is only logical that we take the blood plasma of those recovered and use it to treat patients with severe symptoms of the infection in order to neutralize the virus," the expert said.

He noted that plasma donors must be selected in accordance with strict requirements. "These people must not have any chronic illnesses, and they must be tested for other viral infections: HIV, hepatitis," the expert added. Chulanov stressed that the plasma used during treatment is specially processed to deactivate all potential viruses, so it is safe to transfuse.

To date, a total of 68,622 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 5,568 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 615 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials 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. According to the latest statistics, over 2,700,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 191,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 750,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.