Pakistan reports 68th polio case in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The latest case of polio was reported from DI Khan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, taking the total number of cases reported from the district this year to 10, said the National Emergency Operation Centre (NEOC) in a statement, as per Geo News.

Of the 68 reported polio cases, 27 are from the worst-hit Balochistan, 20 KP and 19 are from Sindh.

Punjab and Islamabad have reported one case each of the disease in 2024.

Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme explained that polio is a "paralysing" disease with "no cure" and "the completion of the routine vaccination for all children under the age of five" just provides them "high immunity against this terrible disease".

Pakistan is one of the two polio-endemic countries in the world, along with Afghanistan, and the number of cases on a yearly basis had significantly dropped in the country, until the recent spike in cases, Geo News reported.

Two cases of polio were reported in Pakistan on Thursday, Dawn reported.

An official of the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health said that two cases of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) were reported in Tank and Kashmore. This is the fourth polio case from Tank and second from Kashmore in 2023.

Pakistan has witnessed a resurgence of WPV1 in 2024. The new cases were reported two days after a child from Balochistan's Qila Abdullah district was crippled due to the disease. In addition to 67 reported cases, the presence of poliovirus was detected in environmental samples collected from over 80 districts.

Earlier this month, a vaccination drive was held in three provinces. However, the vaccination drive in Balochistan was halted till December 30, Dawn reported. At the time, the Balochistan Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) coordinator Inamul Haq said the polio vaccination drive would commence from December 30 across the province. (ANI)