No evidence plasma therapy can be used as treatment for COVID-19: Health ministry

India's health ministry said today that 1,543 new coronavirus cases were reported in the last 24 hours in the country taking the number of cases to 29,435.

Also Read:COVID-19 outbreak: Is Mumbai turning into India's New York City?

The health ministry said 684 patients were cured of the virusin the last 24 hours with the recovery rate now being 23.3 per cent which is a "progressive increase"in recovery rate..

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"Plasma therapy is being experimented, however, no evidence that this can be used as a treatment," health ministry official Lav Aggarwal said, adding,"national level study has been launched by ICMR to study its efficacy."

"Until ICMR concludes its study and a robust scientific proof is available, plasma therapy should be used only for research or trial purpose," the health ministry official said.

"If plasma therapy is not used in a proper manner under proper guideline then it can also cause life threatening complications," the ministry official asserted.

Meanwhile, the Rajashtan government said that there have been 2,328 coronavirus cases cases in the state with progress witnessed in the recovery process.

"We are also increasing our capacity to do coronavirus tests. In one week's time, we will be able to do 10,000 tests per day," Rajasthan health minister informed.

As the virus cases continued to rise, Bihar on Tuesday reported 13 more coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours taking the total number of positive cases in the state to 359.

The government meanwhile has put Air India and Indian Navy on standby to evacuate Indians from Gulf, government officials said.