Pakistan reviews two new polio circumstances; the quantity will increase to 39 this 12 months

A well being employee administers a polio vaccine to a baby in a neighborhood in Peshawar, Pakistan. Archive | Picture credit score: AP

“Pakistan has reported 39 circumstances of polio this 12 months, and two new circumstances of the crippling illness have been detected in Sindh province,” officers mentioned on Sunday (October 20, 2024).

“The most recent circumstances have been confirmed on Saturday (October 19, 2024) within the Sanghar and Mirpurkhas districts of the province,” reported the Dawn the newspaper reported.

Pakistan confirms fifth polio case of the 12 months 17 days after sufferer’s dying

This comes after 4 circumstances have been reported the day gone by, shaking the nation’s efforts to eradicate the poliovirus. In response to the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication in Islamabad, the most recent victims are a lady and a boy.

“These are the primary polio circumstances in Mirpurkhas and Sanghar this 12 months,” an official was quoted as saying within the report. “The prevalence of the virus had already been confirmed within the two neighboring districts after a number of environmental samples examined constructive for WPV1 since April,” the official added.

In ten months of the 12 months, Pakistan has reported 39 circumstances of poliovirus, of which 20 have been reported in Balochistan, 12 in Sindh, 5 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one every in Punjab and Islamabad.

The Prime Minister’s focal individual for Polio Eradication, Ayesha Raza Farooq, acknowledged the unfold of the virus throughout the nation, however famous {that a} technique has been developed to eradicate the crippling illness by June 2025.

“The Pakistan Polio Program has deliberate a brand new nationwide vaccination marketing campaign beginning October 28 to immunize greater than 45 million kids underneath 5 years of age,” the report mentioned.

“Pakistan and Afghanistan are the one international locations on this planet the place polio stays endemic,” in response to the World Well being Group.