Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 16, April 13 to 19 2026
During Epiweek 16, 21 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, and United Republic of Tanzania. During week 16, 1,402 specimens were collected, and 1,322 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 16, 130 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 9.8%), of which 86 specimens were Influenza A, and 44 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A(H1N1) pdm09 (n = 21), Influenza A(H3) (n = 52), Influenza A (unable to subtype) (n = 4), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 9), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 8), and Influenza B(Victoria) (n = 36).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 16, of the 1,324 specimens processed by 18 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 31 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 2.3%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 16, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 21,891 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 727 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 3.3%).