Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 25, June 16 to 22 2025
During Epiweek 25, 18 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Nigeria, Seychelles, South Africa, Togo, and Zambia. During week 25, 1,518 specimens were collected, and 1,405 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 25, 170 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 12.1%), of which 149 specimens were Influenza A, and 21 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 67), Influenza A (H3)
(n = 79), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 3), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 4), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 17).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 25, of the 1,211 specimens processed by 14 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 52 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 4.3%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 25, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 36,495 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 1,728 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 4.7%).