Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 26, June 23 to 29 2025
During Epiweek 26, 24 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. During week 26, 1,751 specimens were collected, and 1,640 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 26, 227 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 13.8%), of which 209 specimens were Influenza A, and 18 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 138), Influenza A (H3) (n = 59), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 12), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 2), and Influenza B
(Victoria) (n = 16).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 26, of the 1,507 specimens processed by 21 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 118 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 7.8%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 26, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 39,563 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 1,904 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 4.8%).