COVID-19 death rate in Raj lower than national average: Health min

The COVID-19 mortality rate in Rajasthan is 2.83 per cent compared to the national average of 3.3 per cent, the state's health minister Raghu Sharma said on Monday.

Stressing that the situation arising out of COVID-19 pandemic is under control, Sharma said the death rate will go down further due to the commencement of plasma therapy to treat serious coronavirus-infected patients in Jaipur and Jodhpur.

He also said that the state's recovery rate for coronavirus patients is 58 per cent against the national average of 29.9 per cent.

Similarly, the rate of infection in Rajasthan is 2.35 per cent while the national average is 3.92 per cent, he said.

Sharma said doubling rate of infected patients in the country is 12 days but in Rajasthan it is 18 days.

He further said that it was necessary for migrant Rajasthanis coming from outside to stay in quarantine for 14 days.

Their health checkup will be done and quarantine facilities have been set up in villages and cities across the state for them, he added.

Convalescent plasma therapy aims at transfusing plasma (component of blood) containing antibodies donated by a recovered COVID-19 patient to the serious coronavirus patients harbouring an active infection.

The therapy has previously been used against viral illnesses such as rabies, hepatitis B, polio, measles, influenza and Ebola.