Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 11, March 9 to 15 2026
During Epiweek 11, 11 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritania, Mauritius, South Africa, Uganda, and Zambia (Figure 1). During week 11, 618 specimens were collected, and 589 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 11, 68 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 11.5%), of which 42 specimens were Influenza A, and 26 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 18), Influenza A (H3) (n = 8), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 16), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 2), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 24).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 11, of the 569 specimens processed by 8 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 16 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 2.8%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 11, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 12,607 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 562 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 4.5%).