KARACHI, July 10: Another three-day round of anti-polio vaccination campaign was launched in 13 towns of the city on Tuesday with the target of covering over 1.628 million children below the age of five years.

This year, three confirmed polio cases have been reported so far -- one of them in Karachi. A health official was of the view that considering nomadic influx and constant movement of people across the provincial borders, there was a need for special measures to monitor travel of the disease.

Under the micro plan of the current 70th round, 362 centres and 201 transit points have been set up in addition to 3,724 mobile teams activated for the vaccination drive, according to the official.

The target population to be covered included 181,819 in Orangi Town, 172,233 in Saddar Town, 154,194 in Gulshan Town and 148,370 in New Karachi Town.

The EDOs Health of various districts and representatives of the relevant national and international health agencies visited different towns as part of a special monitoring plan chalked out by the Sindh Expanded Programme on Immunisation, said a senior health officer, who described the overall pace of the campaign on the first day as satisfactory.

Meanwhile, an officer was suspended in Gadap Town for showing carelessness during the vaccination campaign.