Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 12, March 16 to 22 2026
During Epiweek 12, 14 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, South Sudan, and Uganda. During week 12, 609 specimens were collected, and 553 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 12, 39 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 7.1%), of which 22 specimens were Influenza A, and 17 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 5), Influenza A (H3) (n = 9), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 8), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 4), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 13).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 12, of the 516 specimens processed by 12 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 12 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 2.3%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 12, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 13,991 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 599 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 4.3%).