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Effectiveness of blood plasma in COVID-19 treatment requires further research — WHO

There are observation reports and information on small series of cases, Melita Vujnovic said

MOSCOW, May 20. /TASS/. The effectiveness of blood plasma from patients who have already recovered from the coronavirus infection to be used to treat those who are ill with the infection will be determined during additional research, World Health Organization Representative to the Russian Federation Melita Vujnovic told TASS.

"The value of blood plasma in treatment of the COVID-19 could be determined only in randomized clinical testing," Vujnovic said. "As far as I know, there are observation reports and information on small series of cases. Further research is needed."

In this regard, the WHO representative reminded about the global research and development platform, launched by the WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus.

"We expect that all countries that apply new or special methods would share their scientific results and data that complies with the criteria of scientific and clinical testing, to enrich the global bank of knowledge and to create ‘global products’ that would help the entire world to control the pandemic and save lives," she said.

According to the latest statistics, over 4,990,400 people have been infected worldwide and more than 324,900 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 1,961,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, a total of 308,705 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 85,392 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 2,927 fatalities nationwide.