The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination on Monday announced that Poliovirus was detected from the sewage of eight cities across the country during the environmental surveillance carried out by the polio eradication programme during last month.

According to the results shared by National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC), the presence of poliovirus was confirmed in sewage samples collected from Karachi, Peshawar, Bannu, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Killa Abdullah, Pishin and Quetta during December 2018.

Under the supervision of the relevant provincial health departments, samples of sewage water are collected on a monthly basis from 58 sampling sites across Pakistan. They are tested by the regional reference laboratory for polio housed at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad.

As per the statement issued by the health ministry, in consideration of the associated risks, the country's polio programme has urged parents to ensure the immunisation of all children under the age of five in the upcoming polio campaign, which is scheduled to start from January 21.

National Coordinator Emergency Operation Centre for Polio Dr Rana Safdar said that while case counts were declining, as long as the virus was present anywhere in the country, the threat of the virus for vulnerable children remained.

"To finally eradicate the virus, vaccinating all children against all preventable diseases including polio is imperative both in routine as well as in special door to door campaigns," Dr Safdar added.

While acknowledging the progress that had already been made, the recently concluded Technical Advisory Group (TAG) on Polio urged the programme to focus on children who missed the vaccination, for any reason and to ensure that the virus didn't survive any longer.

The group met on January 11-12 in Islamabad to assess the programme progress, opportunities and the remaining challenges towards achieving the goal of stopping transmission of the poliovirus.

Prime Minister's Focal Person for Polio Eradication Babar bin Atta said the "misconception of a caregiver led to paralysis of another child in Bajaur agency, who had every right to live healthy and productive life. It is a reminder to everyone that no excuse can save your child from paralysis, especially if the child is not repeatedly vaccinated."

He added that it was more cumbersome when paralysis is life long and irreversible.