QUETTA: A day after its launch, the second phase of an anti-polio campaign was suspended in Quetta due to security reasons on Tuesday, according to sources in the Balochistan Health Department (BHD).

An anti-polio campaign was launched in Quetta on May 20 to administer polio vaccine to more than 400,000 children below the age of five years.

Polio drops were administered to children in 18 union councils of the provincial capital city before the campaign was suspended the next day due to authorities' failure to provide timely security to polio teams in the city.

Read: Quetta anti-polio drive suspended due to lack of security

BHD had launched the second phase of its anti-polio campaign in different union councils of Quetta on Monday.

Security of polio teams was tightened in the aftermath of attacks by miscreants in Quetta and other parts of Balochistan.

Police and Levies personnel provided security to volunteers and health workers administering polio drops to children.

Also read: 51 union councils in Balochistan declared 'high risk' for polio

51 union councils in Balochistan were declared to be at a 'high risk' for polio virus by the Balochistan Polio Emergency Cell on Monday.

Provincial Coordinator Emergency Cell Dr Saifur Rehman said that environmental samples of polio virus had already been found in the Quetta and Killa Abdullah districts of the province.

So far three polio cases have been reported in Quetta, Killa Abdullah and the Loralai districts of Balochistan during the current year.

Pakistan is one of only three countries where polio remains endemic.

Attempts to eradicate it have been badly hit by militant attacks on immunisation teams that have claimed 76 lives since December 2012.

Militants claim the polio vaccination drive is a front for espionage or a conspiracy to sterilise Muslims.

Last year, the number of polio cases recorded in Pakistan soared to 306, the highest in 14 years.