India opens first plasma bank for COVID-19 treatment

India’s first plasma bank has opened in the national capital, New Delhi.

Meanwhile, the country’s worst-affected state, Maharashtra, has started what it calls the world’s largest plasma therapy trial.

Doctors say treating infected patients with plasma from recovered people could reduce the number of coronavirus deaths.

Nearly 18,000 Indians have died and more than 600,000 have been infected in the world’s fourth-worst affected country.

 

Al Jazeera’s Elizabeth Puranam reports from New Delhi, India.