A Haimen local surnamed Xu, who has been recovering from the novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP), donated her blood plasma at the Nantong Blood Center on Feb 23 to help treat NCP patients.

Xu made a full recovery and was released from the hospital two days ago. She is still under a 14-day quarantine.

"I learned on the news that my plasma might be helpful in treating patients in critical condition. I will donate as much as they need," she said.  

At the blood center, Xu underwent a series of physical tests and had her hands disinfected before having the plasma collected.

"We have to make sure she doesn't have high blood pressure or other infectious diseases. Women on their period are also not allowed to donate blood," a doctor explained.

According to Yan Feng, head of the center, a cell separator segregated the plasma from Xu's blood and injected the rest of the blood back into her body.

"We will further test the plasma before using it on patients," Yan said.

Plasma treatment has proved effective on NCP patients. China will roll out steps to encourage recovered patients to donate blood plasma in an effort to improve the virus recovery rate and reduce fatalities, according to a statement released after a meeting by the leading group of the Communist Party of China Central Committee on coping with the outbreak on Feb 20.