Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 10, March 2 to 8 2026
During Epiweek 10, 11 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe (Figure 1). During week 10, 759 specimens were collected, and 699 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 10, 45 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 6.4%), of which 21 specimens were Influenza A, and 24 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 14), Influenza A (H3)
(n = 6), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 1), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 24).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 10, of the 593 specimens processed by 8 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 12 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 2%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 10, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 11,373 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 526 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 4.6%).