Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 47, November 17 to 23 2025

During Epiweek 47, 19 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, and United Republic of Tanzania. During week 47, 1,012 specimens were collected, and 926 were tested for influenza.

In Epiweek 47, 157 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 17%), of which 146 specimens were Influenza A, and 11 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 18), Influenza A (H3) (n = 100), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 28), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 1), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 10).

SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 47, of the 898 specimens processed by 17 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 29 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 3.2%).

Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 47, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 76,237 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 2,705 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 3.5%).