Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 50, December 8 to 14 2025
During Epiweek 50, 12 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Mauritania, Mauritius, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, and United Republic of Tanzania (Figure 1). During week 50, 633 specimens were collected, and 596 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 50, 50 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 8.4%), of which 42 specimens were Influenza A, and 8 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 14), Influenza A (H3)
(n = 28), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 8).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 50, of the 599 specimens processed by 11 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 16 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 2.7%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 50, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 80,676 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 2,760 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 3.4%).