Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 19, May 4 to 10 2026

During Epiweek 19, 13 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Togo, and United Republic of Tanzania. During week 19, 961 specimens were collected, and 951 were tested for influenza.

In Epiweek 19, 86 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 9%), of which 59 specimens were Influenza A, and 27 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 4), Influenza A (H3) (n = 19), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 36), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 3), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 24).

SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 19, of the 908 specimens processed by 12 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 18 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 2%).

Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 19, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 25,293 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 785 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 3.1%).