The Trump administration has granted emergency authorisation for the use of convalescent plasma as a treatment for severely ill Covid-19 patients.

Announcing the move, Donald Trump said the initiative was a “truly historic breakthrough against the China virus” in the treatment of the disease which has claimed nearly 180,000 lives in the US and more than 800,000 globally.

The decision to grant emergency authorisation represents a change of heart by the US Food and Drug Administration, which had previously decided against doing so.

However, the FDA said the decision followed an extensive review of the data collected over recent months.

It added that the benefits of the treatment outweighed any risks.

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