First COVID-19 patient who received plasma therapy in Karnataka dies

The first coronavirus patient in Karnataka to undergo convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) at the Victoria hospital in Bengaluru has died following cardiac arrest on Thursday. The deceased (Patient no.796) was a 60-year-old man from Anantpur in Andhra Pradesh, who was admitted to the designated hospital in Bengaluru on May 10. "The patient was given plasma therapy but he was suffering from pneumonia, respiratory distress with hypotension and was a known case of diabetes mellitus he died of cardiac arrest," said COVID-19 spokesperson and Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar.

Convalescent plasma therapy is seen as a hope for critically ill coronavirus patients. Blood plasma of a fully recovered COVID-19 patient is administered to critically ill patients. Karnataka reported 28 new cases on Thursday and the total number of infected in the state now is 987. Five cases were reported from Padarayanapura containment zone in Bengaluru. Six of the new patients had returned from Mumbai and four from Gujarat. Seven of the new cases were from Bidar, five from Mandya, four from Gadag, three from Davanagere, two from Kalaburagi and one each from Belagavi and Bagalkot.