Approved by: Frontiers Editorial Office, Frontiers Media SA, Switzerland
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Following publication, it was brought to our attention that the ethical approval for this study referred to the same ethics approval number 2020-016-03 that had been used across a series of unrelated published studies (1–10). Additionally, an issue around the potential need for approval from a Comité de Protection de Personnes was raised and remains unresolved.
An investigation conducted by the Comité d'éthique at Aix-Marseille Université confirmed that this study is retrospective and did not require approval from a Comité de Protection de Personnes. The institution stated that the quoted ethics approval 2020-016-03 is a generic opinion concerning the study of genetic diversity and evolution of SARS-COV-2 which is valid for any study on this topic.
Frontiers has not received the necessary documentation to confirm these statements.
Dao, T. L., Hoang, V. T., Nguyen, N. N., Delerce, J., Chaudet, H., Levasseur, A., et al. (2021). Clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients infected with different SARS-CoV-2 variants in Marseille, France.
Hoang, V. T., Colson, P., Levasseur, A., Delerce, J., Lagier, J. C., Parola, P., et al. (2021). Clinical outcomes in patients infected with different SARS-CoV-2 variants at one hospital during three phases of the COVID-19 epidemic in Marseille, France.
Gautret, P., Houhamdi, L., Nguyen, N. N., Hoang, V. T., Giraud-Gatineau, A., Raoult, D., et al. (2021). Does SARS-CoV-2 re-infection depend on virus variant?
Hoang, V. T., Assoumani, L., Delerce, J., Houhamdi, L., Bedotto, M., Lagier, J. C., et al. (2022). Introduction of the SARS-CoV-2 Beta variant from Comoros into the Marseille geographical area.
Colson, P., Fantini, J., Yahi, N., Delerce, J., Levasseur, A., Fournier, P. E., et al. (2022). Limited spread of a rare spike E484K-harboring SARS-CoV-2 in Marseille, France.
Colson, P., Delerce, J., Burel, E., Beye, M., Fournier, P. E., Levasseur, A., et al. (2022). Occurrence of a substitution or deletion of SARS-CoV-2 spike amino acid 677 in various lineages in Marseille, France.
Colson, P., Delerce, J., Pontarotti, P., Devaux, C., La Scola, B., Fantini, J., et al. (2024). Resistance-associated mutations to the anti-SARS-CoV-2 agent nirmatrelvir: selection not induction.
Colson, P., Chaudet, H., Delerce, J., Pontarotti, P., Levasseur, A., Fantini, J., et al. (2024). Role of SARS-CoV-2 mutations in the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic.
La Scola, B., Lavrard, P., Fournier, P. E., Colson, P., Lacoste, A., Raoult, D., et al. (2021). SARS-CoV-2 variant from India to Marseille: the still active role of ports in the introduction of epidemics.
Colson, P., Levasseur, A., Delerce, J., Pinault, L., Dudouet, P., Devaux, C., et al. (2021). Spreading of a new SARS-CoV-2 N501Y spike variant in a new lineage.