By Ismaeel Naar

DUBAI -- Bahrain confirmed 209 new cases of the coronavirus have been detected in the past 24 hours, according to health authorities, adding that 148 people have also recovered while no new deaths were recorded.

With the new cases of infections and recoveries, the total number of cases including death now stands at 6,956 as of Sunday.

“Medical examinations revealed during the past 24 hours, there are 209 new cases infected with the coronavirus, including 119 cases detected in migrant workers and 64 cases of contacts [with previously infected patients], while no cases were detected from those arriving from abroad,” the island kingdom’s Ministry of Health said.

Health officials in the Kingdom have been pushing the use of convalescent plasma transfusion protocol in treating coronavirus in recent days, with specialists at Bahrain Defense Forces (BDF) Hospital for those recovered from COVID-19 meeting the requirements to donate their plasma.

“When the human body is infected with any virus, including COVID-19, the immune system begins to form antibodies. Those antibodies help the body overcome the virus and recover from the disease. The antibodies are present in the plasma component of blood,” she said, according to state news agency BNA,” Dr. Manal Al-Sayed Ahmed, hematology and internal medicine specialist at BDF hospital, told the Bahrain News Agency. -- Al Arabiya English