Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 7, February 9 to 15 2026

During Epiweek 7, 14 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, and United Republic of Tanzania. During week 7, 983 specimens were collected, and 937 were tested for influenza.

In Epiweek 7, 101 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 10.8%), of which 91 specimens were Influenza A, and 10 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 16), Influenza A (H3)
(n = 70), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 5), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 2), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 8).

SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 7, of the 797 specimens processed by 13 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 42 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 5.3%).

Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 7, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 7,534 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 423 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 5.6%).