Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 14, March 30 to April 5 2026
During Epiweek 14, 15 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Senegal, South Africa, and Togo. During week 14, 795 specimens were collected, and 787 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 14, 60 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 7.6%), of which 34 specimens were Influenza A, and 26 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 9), Influenza A (H3) (n = 15), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 10), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 1), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 25).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 14, of the 759 specimens processed by 14 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 6 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 0.8%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 14, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 17,183 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 653 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 3.8%)