Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 31, July 28 to August 3 2025
During Epiweek 31, 19 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mauritius, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. During week 31, 999 specimens were collected, and 982 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 31, 151 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 15.4%), of which 139 specimens were Influenza A, and 12 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 97), Influenza A (H3) (n = 28), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 14), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 12).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 31, of the 988 specimens processed by 15 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 35 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 3.5%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 31, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 48,085 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 2,267 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 4.7%).