More than 1,000 recovered patients of the novel coronavirus from across the Chinese mainland had donated plasma as of 6 pm Sunday to save patients battling the disease, the Red Cross Society of China said on Monday.

A total of 1,097 patients who recovered from COVID-19 in 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions had donated a total of 355,550 milliliters of plasma, including 591 patients from Central China's Hubei province, the epicenter of the outbreak, the society told China Daily.

In February, the National Health Commission and the society jointly released a notice encouraging patients who have recovered from COVID-19 to donate plasma to help save other patients.

An effective drug is unavailable to cure the highly infectious disease, and convalescent plasma has been authorized by the National Health Commission as an option for treatment.

Similar methods, using antibodies in the plasma of recovered patients to fight a virus, were used to treat patients during the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic in 2003.