Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 30, July 21 to 27 2025

During Epiweek 30, 16 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. During week 30, 1,056 specimens were collected, and 1,040 were tested for influenza.

In Epiweek 30, 127 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 12.2%), of which 117 specimens were Influenza A, and 10 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 72), Influenza A (H3) (n = 27), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 18), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 1), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 9).

SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 30, of the 1,053 specimens processed by 13 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 38 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 3.6%).

Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 30, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 45,738 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 2,211 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 4.8%).