Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 9, February 23 to March 1 2026
During Epiweek 9, 17 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, and United Republic of Tanzania. During week 9, 1,398 specimens were collected, and 1,326 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 9, 180 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 13.6%), of which 151 specimens were Influenza A, and 29 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 9), Influenza A (H3) (n
= 132), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 10), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 2), and Influenza B(Victoria) (n = 27).
In Epiweek 9, of the 1,125 specimens processed by 14 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 19 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 1.7%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 9, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 10,715 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 506 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 4.7%).