Turkey sees 1st post-plasma treatment COVID-19 recovery

MALATYA, Turkey

For the first time in Turkey, a novel coronavirus patient, who received immune plasma treatment, recovered from COVID-19.

Treated at a hospital in eastern Turkey, Abidin Aybar urged the public to stay home, "so that they can stay alive. Keep your social distance. Life is more important than anything."

Aybar thanked the staff at the Inonu University Turgut Ozal Medical Center in the province of Malatya after being taken out of intensive care. "I'm feeling well and I hope it goes smoothly for all of us after this," he said.

Dr. Talat Kilic from the hospital told Anadolu Agency that while Aybar was under intensive care, "we put him on a ventilator. We then administered plasma treatment."

"According to WHO [World Health Organization], plasma treatment is among the promising methods. With the proper treatment, our patient is feeling much better. His symptoms are mostly gone. We may discharge him from the hospital in a couple of days after he's fully recovered."

Kilic underlined that former COVID-19 patients who recovered from the disease could donate blood plasma to be used to treat other coronavirus patients.

Turkey has so far reported over 120,000 COVID-19 cases and the death toll stands at 3,174.

After originating in China last December, the pandemic has killed nearly 231,000 people, with total infections exceeding 3.2 million, while more than 992,500 have recovered so far, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University in the US.

* Writing by Firdevs Bulut