New Delhi: The Health Ministry on Tuesday said currently plasma therapy is at experimental stage and there is no evidence yet to support that it can be used as treatment for COVID-19.

Addressing a press briefing, Health Ministry Joint Secretary Lav Agarwal said currently there are no approved therapies for COVID-19 and there is not enough evidence to claim that plasma therapy can be used for treatment of the disease.

"ICMR has launched a national-level study to study efficacy of plasma therapy in treatment of COVID 19," he said.

"Till ICMR concludes its study and a robust scientific proof is available, plasma therapy should be used only for research or trial purpose. If plasma therapy is not used in proper manner under proper guidelines, then it can also cause life threatening complications," said Agarwal.

The official said that the doubling rate of coronavirus cases now stands at 10.2 days. He further said that in the last 24 hours, 1,543 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported, taking the total cases to 29,435.

"6,868 COVID-19 patients, which is 23.3 per cent of total cases, have recovered so far," he added.

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Bengaluru (PTI): Six persons were arrested from Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore district in connection with a dacoity case here, police said on Sunday.

The police seized two two-wheelers, four mobile phones, and two laptops worth Rs 3 lakh from the accused.

The accused allegedly trespassed into a house here and threatened the occupants with deadly weapons, earlier this month.

According to police, the complainant, a resident of Pavamana Nagar within the limits of Konanakunte Police Station, submitted a complaint on April 18. He was a college student, originally from Kerala. He, along with six other students, resided in the house and all were pursuing studies at the same college.

On the night of April 17, around late hours, six unknown persons aged between 20-25 years unlawfully entered the house. They assaulted the occupants with their hands and a knife, causing bleeding injuries, threatened them, and robbed them of Rs 10,000 cash, four mobile phones, two laptops, and a two-wheeler, they said, adding that based on the complaint, a dacoity case was registered.

During the investigation, the police conducted inquiries from various angles and gathered credible information through informants. the an official release said, adding, the accused were later picked up from Coimbatore.

The police recovered the stolen laptops, mobile phones, a two-wheeler belonging to the complainant, and another one used in the commission of the offence, they said.

"Upon interrogation, all six accused confessed to their involvement in the offence."

The six accused were produced before a court, which remanded them to judicial custody, they added.