Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 48, November 24 to 30 2025
During Epiweek 48, 26 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, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. During week 48, 1,438 specimens were collected, and 1,392 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 48, 192 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 13.8%), of which 177 specimens were Influenza A, and 15 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 28), Influenza A (H3) (n = 102), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 47), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 2), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 13).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 48, of the 1,297 specimens processed by 22 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 13 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 1%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 48, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 79,111 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 2,728 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 3.4%)