{
  "id": 28222,
  "title": "Respiratory virus surveillance in the WHO African Region Epidemiological Week 26, June 22 to 28 2026",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/07/31/respiratory-virus-surveillance-in-the-who-african-region",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-07-31T19:19:25.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "WHO Africa",
    "slug": "who-africa",
    "url": "https://www.afro.who.int/publications/respiratory-virus-surveillance-who-african-region-epidemiological-week-26-june-22-28"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "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.\n\nSARS-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%.",
  "summary": "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,…",
  "key_points": [
    "1,450 specimens collected and tested for influenza in WHO African Region.",
    "Influenza A (H1N1)pdm09 and H3 accounted for 113 cases, B (Victoria) for 6 cases.",
    "SARS-CoV-2 positivity rate at 4.6% across 18 laboratories in the region."
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": "https://urgent.news/ill/28222.png",
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}