Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 26, June 22 to 28 2026
Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 26, June 22 to 28 2026 orlunwop@who.int Fri, 31/07/2026 - 20:19 Influenza During Epiweek 26, 22 countries in the WHO African region (WHO AFR) contributed virological data for analysis - Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali,…
Epidemiological Week 26, spanning from June 22 to 28 in the year 2026, witnessed respiratory virus surveillance across the WHO African Region. A total of 1,450 specimens were collected and tested for influenza, with 1,435 specimens undergoing testing. The positivity rate for influenza virus stood at 12.4%, with 178 specimens testing positive.
Among these, Influenza A accounted for 113 specimens, with 36 cases of Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 and 73 cases of Influenza A (H3). Additionally, there were 6 cases of Influenza B, including 59 cases of Influenza B (Victoria) lineage.
SARS-CoV-2 surveillance also took place in this week, with 1,274 specimens processed by 18 laboratories in the African Region. Out of these, 58 specimens tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, representing a positivity rate of 4.6%. Cumulatively, from weeks 1 to 26, the WHO African Region's influenza laboratory network had tested 37,617 sentinel surveillance specimens for SARS-CoV-2, with 1,031 specimens testing positive, resulting in a cumulative positivity rate of 2.7%.
Written by urgent.news from WHO Africa's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
