Cases of ILI and ARI are reported in real time by participating GPs (ca 600 GPs) all over France. The case definition for ILI is fever of sudden onset (> 39 °C) with respiratory signs (cough, running nose) and myalgia in a person of any age. Cases of ARI include any disease with respiratory signs and are only monitored in people older than 65 years, unlike ILI. In addition, Sentinelles GPs take nasopharyngeal swabs in one ILI case and up to two ARI cases per week for viral characterisation [4]. Influenza virus (see Supplement), respiratory syncytial virus, human rhinovirus and human metapneumovirus are routinely looked for, and SARS-CoV-2 was added at the end of February 2020. In the first week of testing, week 9 (the week starting 24 February 2020), none of 119 submitted swabs tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. In week 10 of 2020 (the week starting 2 March 2020), 93 swabs were collected in ILI patients and 23 in ARI patients, and two swabs in each category were positive for SARS-CoV-2.