MANILA, Philippines — The government should lead efforts in the donation of blood plasma from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) survivors to help patients battling the illness, Sen. Sonny Angara said Wednesday. Angara recently donated blood plasma for a COVID-positive health worker in a hospital in Quezon City after he himself recovered from the disease. Like here in the donation of plasma, the government should lead that because the information (COVID-19 survivors) is with government agencies,” the senator, speaking partly in Filipino, said in an interview on CNN Philippines. A vaccine to treat COVID-19 has yet to be developed, but some medical professionals believe antibodies harvested from plasma recovered from the blood of survivors could help in the recovery of other patients. Angara said the patient he donated his blood plasma to had been recovering well.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer April 15, 2020 17:03 UTC