The plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19 may contain antibodies to the virus and might be effective against the deterioration of health condition of new patients.

The plasma must be collected from recovered people who can donate blood, have had no symptoms for 14 days, and have had negative results on COVID-19 tests.

The decision to begin the use of plasma for COVID-19 patients came after Ali Akbar Velayati, head of Masih Daneshvari Hospital, recently confirmed the plan to treat critically ill patients with plasma, according to the report.

Iran's Health Ministry on Sunday reported the total number of 38,309 cases of novel coronavirus infection, of whom 2,640 have died.