The delivery of primary health care, especially for patients with symptoms of a respiratory tract infection, has been highly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Preventive measures, frequently changing advice and guidelines, implementation of diagnostic testing by general practices and later by routine community surveillance, changed consultation behaviours because of fear for COVID-19 and not wanting to unnecessarily use health care resources urged for constant adaptations in care delivery.

At the beginning of 2021, our RECOVER scientist Marion Koopmans participated in a 28-day missions in the Chinese city of Wuhan to investigate the origins of the virus that caused the global COVID-19 pandemic. She was part of a a team of experts appointed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

On February 25, the REMAP-CAP paper: “Interleukin-6 Receptor Antagonists in Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19” was published in the New England Journal of Medicine. It shows the results of the use of tocilizumab and sarilumab in patients with severe COVID-19. Adult patients with COVID-19 who received organ support in the intensive care unit within 24 hours, were randomly assigned to receive tocilizumab, sarilumab, or standard care. The publication shows that in critically ill patients with COVID-19 receiving organ support in ICUs, treatment with the interleukin-6 receptor antagonists tocilizumab and sarilumab improved outcomes, including survival.

On Thursday 18 March 2021, the RECOVER Social Science team will present the results of their qualitative study at the SW SAPC on-line conference 2021. The study focuses on patients and healthcare professionals’ (HCPs) experiences of receiving and delivering care during the COVID-19 pandemic in 8 European countries.

The new SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 detected in the UK is rapidly spreading to other European countries. Due to concerns about these variants and high incidence levels, progressively enhanced social distancing measures were introduced in France in 2021.

Following the signing of the Grant Agreement by the European Commission (EC), ECRAID-Base has secured funding of 30 million euros and will commence March 1st 2021. ECRAID-Base is the core set of activities for ECRAID (the European Clinical Research Alliance for Infectious Diseases), which aspires to become the first of its kind, pan-European clinical research network for infectious diseases in Europe. Over the five-year duration of ECRAID-Base, ECRAID will evolve into a self-sustaining, not-for-profit organisation conducting clinical research for both public and private sponsors.

In collaboration with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the RECOVER Social Sciences team has published a policy brief based on their latest study on public views of COVID-19 vaccination in seven European countries: France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and Ukraine.

REMAP-CAP, an Adaptive Platform Trial for Community-Acquired Pneumonia, launched its second in a series of videos. The video shows the uniqueness, smart, and easy-to-handle design of this trial. As an adaptive platform, REMAP-CAP is designed to adapt in the event of a pandemic, increasing the likelihood of patients receiving an effective treatment.

This decision based on an initial analysis of all severely ill COVID-19 trial participants requiring intensive care unit (ICU) support. This analysis showed that convalescent plasma did not improve outcomes in this group. There was no evidence of harm associated with the administration of convalescent plasma.

Initial findings reported in November showed that tocilizumab, a drug used to treat arthritis, was likely to improve outcomes among critically ill COVID-19 patients. But the impact on patient survival and length of time on organ support in ICU was not clear at that time.
Now, the latest analysis shows that tocilizumab and a second drug called sarilumab – both types of immune modulators called IL-6 receptor antagonists – have a significant impact on patient survival, reducing mortality by 8.5%.