The HCSP updates its guidelines of 20 May 2020 on the preventive measures to be applied to donors of cells, tissues or organs in the Covid-19 context. Indeed, the Biomedecine agency (ABM) has raised questions about the tests and matrices to be used to control the infectious risk of donations, and the possible need for controlling the infectious risk of donations despite a viral inactivation treatment.

Following the analysis of the different test modalities forSARS-CoV-2 infection (types of samples, detection methods, on-going clinical trials) and considering the need for maintaining transplants to meet the needs of potential recipients, the HCSP recommends:

• For living donors: to maintain an RT-PCR test on nasopharyngeal swabs (or oropharyngeal swabs in case of contraindication or categorical opposition from the donor), to motivate and train transplant teams to perform samplings. Serology should not be used.
• For deceased donors: to maintain an RT-PCR test on nasopharyngeal swabs. Other types of sampling should not be used. It is allowed to derogate to Covid-19 testing prior to transplantation in case of vital emergency.
• For tissues intended for virus inactivation treatment: these tissues do not require to be tested when the virus inactivation process has been validated with regard to the SARS-CoV-2 risk and authorised by the ANSM.