Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 49, December 1 to 7 2025
During Epiweek 49, 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, Guinea, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, South Africa, Togo, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. During week 49, 771 specimens were collected, and 757 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 49, 102 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 13.5%), of which 100 specimens were Influenza A, and 2 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 26), Influenza A (H3)
(n = 66), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 8), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 2).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 49, of the 713 specimens processed by 16 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 13 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 1.8%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 49, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 79,851 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 2,741 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 3.4%).