Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 41, October 6 to 12 2025
During Epiweek 41, 27 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, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo,Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. During week 41, 2,172 specimens were collected, and 1,965 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 41, 371 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 18.9%), of which 351 specimens were Influenza A, and 20 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 109), Influenza A (H3) (n = 176), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 66), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 8), and Influenza B Victoria) (n = 12).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 41, of the 1,801 specimens processed by 22 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 28 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 1.6%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 41, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 66,381 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 2,551 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 3.8%).