During Epiweek 20, 17 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. During week 20, 912 specimens were collected, and 793 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 20, 104 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 13.1%), of which 80 specimens were Influenza A, and 24 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 28), Influenza A (H3)
(n = 34), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 18), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 3), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 21).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 20, of the 796 specimens processed by 13 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 19 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 2.4%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 20, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 26,954 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 817 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 3%).
