(Editor’s note) It seemed difficult to produce a new issue of the Courrier des statistiques without mentioning the impact of the pandemic on official statistics, especially since this period was rich in innovations, particularly during the first lockdown (Spring 2020). This article is based on a first paper written by the Director General of INSEE for the Journal of the IAOS, presenting the new sources, methods and organisational elements put in place on this occasion. It has been enriched with a great deal of information, in particular on the resulting publications: nowcasting published every two weeks from late March to mid-July, death statistics, summary data on mobility. For the sake of clarity, we chose a scope: original developments of the spring of 2020, and resulting analyses up to September 2020. The period that followed raised other difficulties, such as the modalities of continuing cooperation with the various operators, and the issue free of charge vs paying, but these will not be discussed here.

Finally, unlike the other articles in the Courrier, this one is written in the first person: it seemed important to present the approach adopted, the decisions taken, but also, in a more operational way, the impacts on the organisation of day-to-day statistical activity.