Background On 7 February 2020, French Health authorities were informed of a confirmed case of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in an Englishman infected in Singapore who had recently stayed in a chalet in the French Alps. We conducted an investigation to identify secondary cases and interrupt transmission. Methods We defined as a confirmed case a person linked to the chalet with a positive reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction sample for SARS-CoV-2. Results The index case stayed 4 days in the chalet with 10 English tourists and a family of 5 French residents; SARS-CoV-2 was detected in 5 individuals in France, 6 in England (including the index case), and 1 in Spain (overall attack rate in the chalet: 75%). One pediatric case, with picornavirus and influenza A coinfection, visited 3 different schools while symptomatic. One case was asymptomatic, with similar viral load as that of a symptomatic case. Seven days after the first cases were diagnosed, 1 tertiary case was detected in a symptomatic patient with from the chalet a positive endotracheal aspirate; all previous and concurrent nasopharyngeal specimens were negative. Additionally, 172 contacts were monitored; all contacts tested for SARS-CoV-2 (N = 73) were negative. Conclusions The occurrence in this cluster of 1 asymptomatic case with similar viral load as a symptomatic patient suggests transmission potential of asymptomatic individuals. The fact that an infected child did not transmit the disease despite close interactions within schools suggests potential different transmission dynamics in children. Finally, the dissociation between upper and lower respiratory tract results underscores the need for close monitoring of the clinical evolution of suspected cases of coronavirus disease 2019.

Background The antiviral efficacy of remdesivir against SARS-CoV-2 is still controversial. We aimed to evaluate the clinical efficacy of remdesivir plus standard of care compared with standard of care alone in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, with indication of oxygen or ventilator support. Methods DisCoVeRy was a phase 3, open-label, adaptive, multicentre, randomised, controlled trial conducted in 48 sites in Europe (France, Belgium, Austria, Portugal, Luxembourg). Adult patients (aged ≥18 years) admitted to hospital with laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and illness of any duration were eligible if they had clinical evidence of hypoxaemic pneumonia, or required oxygen supplementation. Exclusion criteria included elevated liver enzymes, severe chronic kidney disease, any contraindication to one of the studied treatments or their use in the 29 days before random assignment, or use of ribavirin, as well as pregnancy or breastfeeding. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1:1:1:1) to receive standard of care alone or in combination with remdesivir, lopinavir–ritonavir, lopinavir–ritonavir and interferon beta-1a, or hydroxychloroquine. Randomisation used computer-generated blocks of various sizes; it was stratified on severity of disease at inclusion and on European administrative region. Remdesivir was administered as 200 mg intravenous infusion on day 1, followed by once daily, 1-h infusions of 100 mg up to 9 days, for a total duration of 10 days. It could be stopped after 5 days if the participant was discharged. The primary outcome was the clinical status at day 15 measured by the WHO seven-point ordinal scale, assessed in the intention-to-treat population. Safety was assessed in the modified intention-to-treat population and was one of the secondary outcomes. This trial is registered with the European Clinical Trials Database, EudraCT2020-000936-23, and ClinicalTrials.gov , NCT04315948 . Findings Between March 22, 2020, and Jan 21, 2021, 857 participants were enrolled and randomly assigned to remdesivir plus standard of care (n=429) or standard of care only (n=428). 15 participants were excluded from analysis in the remdesivir group, and ten in the control group. At day 15, the distribution of the WHO ordinal scale was: (1) not hospitalised, no limitations on activities (61 [15%] of 414 in the remdesivir group vs 73 [17%] of 418 in the control group); (2) not hospitalised, limitation on activities (129 [31%] vs 132 [32%]); (3) hospitalised, not requiring supplemental oxygen (50 [12%] vs 29 [7%]); (4) hospitalised, requiring supplemental oxygen (76 [18%] vs 67 [16%]); (5) hospitalised, on non-invasive ventilation or high flow oxygen devices (15 [4%] vs 14 [3%]); (6) hospitalised, on invasive mechanical ventilation or extracorporea...

Objectives Persistent COVID-19 symptoms have been reported up to 3 months after hospital discharge. Little is known on the frequency and the nature of persistent symptoms beyond 3 months. Here we have assessed, in the longitudinal prospective French COVID-19 cohort, symptoms that persisted 6 months after admission for COVID-19. Methods Hospitalized patients with virologically confirmed COVID-19 were enrolled. Follow-up was planned with a physician's visit at month (M)3 and M6 after admission. Associations between persistence of symptoms at M6 and clinical characteristics at admission were assessed through bivariate and multivariate logistic regression. Results M6 data were available for 1137 participants. Median age was 61 years (IQR 51–71) and 288 (29%, 95% CI 26–32%) were admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) during the acute phase. Six hundred and fifty-five (68%, 95% CI 65–71%) and 639 (60%, 95% CI 57–63%) participants had at least one symptom at M3 and M6 visit, respectively, mostly fatigue, dyspnoea, joint pain and myalgia. At M6, 255 (24%, 95% CI 21–27%) of participants had three or more persistent symptoms. The presence of three or more symptoms at M6 was independently associated with female gender (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 2.40, 95% CI 1.75–3.30), having three or more symptoms at admission (aOR 2.04, 95% CI 1.45–2.89) and ICU admission/transfer during acute phase (aOR 1.55, 95% CI 1.09–2.18), but not significantly with age or having two or more comorbidities. One hundred and twenty-five (29%, 95% CI 25–34%) of those who initially had a professional occupation were not back to work at M6. Discussion A fourth of individuals admitted to hospital for COVID-19 still had three or more persistent symptoms at M6. Longitudinal follow-up of individuals with severe COVID-19 is warranted to better understand the pathophysiology underlying this long-term persistence.