QUETTA: A four-year-old girl has tested positive for poliovirus in Usta Mohammad Tehsil of Jaffarabad district in Balochistan, health officials said on Saturday.

The number of polio cases in Balochistan has reached seven and 42 across the country this year.

According to health officials, the girl had not been administered polio vaccine as the parents refused to allow giving polio drops to their daughter.

However, after observing symptoms, the family contacted the health authorities who had taken samples of their child on April 20 and 21.

“The samples proved positive after testing,” health officials said, adding that the last case of polio was reported in Balochistan on March 11 in a two-year-old boy in Zhob district.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2020