Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 29, July 15 to 21 2024
During Epidemiological Week (Epiweek) 29, 21 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. During week 29, 1,266 specimens were collected, and 1,240 were tested for influenza.
SARS CoV-2
In Epiweek 29, 209 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 16.9%), of which 166 specimens were Influenza A, and 43 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 45), Influenza A (H3) (n = 109), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 12), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 2), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 41).
In Epiweek 29, of the 1,203 specimens processed by 16 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 62 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 5.2%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 29, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 46,478 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 2,735 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 5.9%).