During Epiweek 23, 14 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Niger, Senegal, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. During week 23, 761 specimens were collected, and 736 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 23, 49 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 6.7%), of which 28 specimens were Influenza A, and 21 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 13), Influenza A (H3) (n = 14), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 1), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 3), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 18).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 23, of the 672 specimens processed by 11 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 23 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 3.4%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 23, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 30,987 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 882 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 2.8%).
