New Delhi: Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain on Thursday said that plasma therapy will continue for COVID-19 in the city even as the India Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said that the Convalescent Plasma (CP) therapy didn’t help in reducing death due to the coronavirus disease.

While addressing the mediapersons, the minster said that coronavirus patients in Delhi will continue to be treated with blood plasma donated by the recovered COVID patients as it is proving to be effective in people who are in stage one or two of COVID-19 treatment. He, however, admitted to that the particular treatment was not effective in stage three or on patients who are on ventilators.

ICMR researchers did trials on 1,210 patients (moderately ill confirmed COVID-19) between April 22 to July 14.

“Convalescent Plasma was not associated with a reduction in mortality or progression to severe COVID-19. This trial has high generalizability and approximates real-life setting of convalescent plasma therapy in settings with limited laboratory capacity. A priori measurement of neutralizing antibody titres in donors and participants may further clarify the role of CP in the management of COVID-19,” concluded the findings of the study.

Delhi recorded the highest single-day spike of coronavirus cases on September 9. The national capital reported 4,039 fresh COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to over 2 lakh. The previous highest single-day spike was recorded on June 23. As per the health department’s bulletin, 20 patent succumbed on Wednesday, taking the death toll to 4,638.

The positivity rate on Wednesday stood at 7.4 per cent while the recovery rate was over 85 per cent. The COVID-19 case fatality rate stood at 2.31 per cent.

The number of containment zones in Delhi has risen to 1,226.