Publications

During Epidemiological Week (Epiweek) 40, 28 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, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. During week 40, 1,725 specimens were collected, and 1,622 were tested for influenza.

In Epiweek 40, 271 specimens tested positive for influenza virus (positivity of 16.2%), of which 161 specimens were Influenza A, and 110 specimens were Influenza B. The following influenza viruses were identified: Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 (n = 48), Influenza A (H3) (n = 109), Influenza A (subtyping not performed) (n = 4), Influenza B (lineage not determined) (n = 22), and Influenza B (Victoria) (n = 88).

SARS CoV-2

In Epiweek 40, of the 1,535 specimens processed by 23 laboratories in the African Region, a total of 71 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 (positivity of 4.6%).

Cumulatively from weeks 1 to 40, the WHO AFR influenza laboratory network has tested 67,128 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, of which 3,607 were positive for SARS-CoV-2 (cumulative positivity rate 5.4%).