Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 51, December 15 to 21 2025
During Epiweek 51, 11 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Algeria, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. During week 51, 492 specimens were collected, and 478 were tested for influenza.
In Epiweek 51, 36 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 7.5%), of which 33 specimens were Influenza A, and 3 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 15), Influenza A (H3) (n = 16), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 2), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 3).
SARS-CoV-2
In Epiweek 51, of the 439 specimens processed by 10 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 15 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 3.4%).
Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 51, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 81,758 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 2,780 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 3.4%).