ISLAMABAD: Two more polio cases were confirmed on Saturday, making it six cases in two days.

According to the Regi­o­nal Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication in Islamabad, cases of wild poliovirus type-1 (WPV1) were reported in Sindh’s districts of Sanghar and Mirpurkhas.

Pakistan has reported 39 cases of poliovirus in ten months of 2024. Of them, 20 were reported from Bal­o­c­h­istan, 12 from Sindh, five from Khyber Pakhtun­khwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

The newest victims are a girl and a boy, officials said, adding that genetic sequencing of the cases was underway.

“These are the first polio cases from Mirpur­khas and Sanghar this year,” the official added.

The prevalence of the virus had already been confirmed in the two neighbouring districts as several environmental samples collected from there tested positive for WPV1 since April, the official said.

“The intense virus transmission and increase in polio cases is indicative of the harm that children suffer when they miss opportunities for vaccination,” he added.

On Friday, three cases of poliovirus were confirmed in Balochistan and one in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The victims included a girl from Pishin, two boys from Chaman and Noshki and a girl from Lakki Marwat.

Officials claimed the fight against poliovirus in Balochistan and southern KP suffered throughout 2023 and early 2024, as immunisation campaigns were either staggered or postponed due to localised protests, insecurity and community boycotts, leaving a high number of children to miss out on vaccination.

As the number of cases continues to increase, the Pakistan Polio Programme has planned a new nationwide vaccination campaign from Oct 28 to immunise more than 45 million children under the age of five.

This would be the second drive in a month after a nationwide campaign in 115 districts conducted in September.

The prime minister’s focal person on polio, Ayesha Raza Farooq, has accepted that the virus is spreading across the country but reassured that a strategy has been made to eradicate the crippling disease by June 2025.

It was decided to hold “three quality campai­gns” in September, October and December to stop the continued spread of the virus, she told Dawn. As the poliovirus beco­mes “less active during the cold or winter season”, it will be eradicated throu­­gh a scientific strategy.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2024