TITLE: Remdesivir and chloroquine effectively inhibit the recently emerged novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in vitro

Abstract

As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spreads, efforts are being made to reduce transmission via standard public health interventions based on isolation of cases and tracing of contacts. In their modelling study, Joel Hellewell and colleagues1 predict that such a strategy could contribute to reducing the overall size of an outbreak, but will still be insufficient to achieve outbreak control of COVID-19 when the basic reproduction number (R0) is higher than 1·5 or the proportion of contacts traced is lower than 80%. One of the main assumptions of the model by Hellewell and colleagues is that all individuals with symptomatic infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) are eventually tested and reported. However, under the guidelines of most countries with low-grade transmission, clinicians will test suspected patients only if they have travelled to an epidemic region since the outbreak began. A second assumption of the model is that isolation of cases is 100% effective in stopping transmission. Yet home confinement of infected individuals and contacts is challenging, efficacy is variable, and the rigorous tracking involved requires a considerable amount of public health resources.