ISLAMABAD: Two new polio cases have been confirmed by the Polio Virology Laboratory at the National Institute of Health, taking the total number of cases reported so far this year to 212.

An official of the Ministry of National Health Services said both cases were reported from Fata.

Mafia, the 12-month-old daughter of Mastak living in Mera Akakhel locality of Khyber Agency, is having onset of paralysis.

The second patient is a boy. Thirty-month-old Adil is a resident of Kalanga area of Khyber Agency.

The official said that 141 cases had been reported this year in Fata, 43 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 19 in Sindh, six in Balochistan and three in Punjab.

Meanwhile, Minister for National Health Services Saira Afzal Tarar has assured the international community that Pakistan will continue its efforts for the eradication of the crippling disease from its soil.

An official press release quoted her as telling participants of a meeting of the World Health Organisation in Tunis that Pakistan had also taken several precautionary measures to deal with Ebola virus.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2014