However, the specific relationships between individual cytokine expression profiles and peripheral immune cell distributions remain poorly defined, particularly in African populations.<h4>Methods</h4>In this study, we investigated associations between tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interferon-γ (IFN-γ), interleukin-10 (IL-10), and interleukin-17A (IL-17A) expression and circulating leucocyte subsets in hospitalised COVID-19 patients. Here, TNF is linked to COVID-19.