Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 8, February 16 to 22 2026
During Epiweek 8, 16 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. During week 8, 1,222 specimens were collected, and 1,130 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 8, 138 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 12.2%), of which 113 specimens were Influenza A, and 25 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 15), Influenza A (H3)
(n = 89), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 9), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 4), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 21).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 8, of the 1,037 specimens processed by 13 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 29 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 2.8%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 8, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 8,941 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 469 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 5.2%).