Mandatory Credit: Photo by Amphol Thongmueangluang/SOPA Images/REX (10604207c) A donor laying on a transfusion chair while wearing a protective mask during the blood donation. Thai Red Cross has requested to donate blood plasma from patients recovering from COVID-19. Blood donation in Bangkok, Thailand - 06 Apr 2020
The NHS is collecting blood from recovered coronavirus patients (Picture: Rex)

A potential treatment for coronavirus using blood from recovered patients is to be trialled in the UK after thousands showed interest in the scheme.

More than 6,500 people registered to donate their blood plasma in the past seven days, with transfusions set to begin in ‘the coming weeks’.

It is hoped the process will help patients whose bodies are not producing sufficient antibodies to fight the virus. Antibodies are developed by the immune system to attack a foreign invasion such as an illness, though it is not known how much they build up in people who have beaten Covid-19.

If the treatment proves to be effective, NHS Blood and Transplant will begin a national programme to deliver up to 10,000 units of convalescent plasma per week to the NHS, enough to treat 5,000 patients each week.

Dr Manu Shankar-Hari, a joint lead on the trial that will involve hospitals in the four home nations, saidthat because this is a new virus ‘none of us have any protection in the immune system against it’.

The critical care consultant at London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, said: ‘What we are doing this trial is to give you instantaneous protection against the virus using an antibody that is developed by patients who recover from the virus.

‘So the hope is that the viral clearance or the taking away of the virus in the body will be quicker by giving this treatment.’

Chinese scientists have carried out research suggesting that antibodies drawn from the blood of coronavirus survivors improves the symptoms of those severely ill with the disease. The US has already started a major project involving more than 1,500 hospitals and has treated about 600 patients with blood plasma.

A phlebotomist shows Melissa Cruz the full bag of her donated convalescent plasma, which she donated after recovering from coronavirus (COVID-19) contracted during her work as an ER technician, at the Central Seattle Donor Center of Bloodworks Northwest during the outbreak in Seattle, Washington, U.S. April 17, 2020. The plasma from recovered patients will be used in an experimental treatment study for current coronavirus patients. REUTERS/Lindsey Wasson
It is hoped the blood of coronavirus survivors will be rich in antibodies to help others fight it off (Picture: Reuters)

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There is no known cure for the novel virus and researchers around the world are racing against the clock to develop a vaccine, with the first human trials in Europe already underway at Oxford University.

Health secretary Matt Hancock said he hoped the treatment would be ‘a major milestone in our fight against this disease’.

He added: ‘Hundreds of people are participating in national trials already for potential treatments and the scaling up of convalescent plasma collection means thousands could potentially benefit from it in the future.’

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