ISLAMABAD: Pakis­tan reported two more polio cases on Thursday, taking the number of cases so far this year to 67.

An official of the Regional Reference Labo­ratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health confirmed two cases of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) from Tank and Kashmore.

This is the fourth polio case from Tank and second from Kashmore this year.

Pakistan has seen a resurgence of WPV1 this year, with 67 cases re­­ported so far. Of these, 27 were from Balochistan, 19 from Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa, 19 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

The new cases were confirmed two days after a child from Baloc­h­istan’s Qila Abdullah district was crippled by the disease.

Apart from the 67 reported cases, the presence of poliovirus has been detected in environmental samples collected from more than 80 districts.

A vaccination drive was held in three provinces earlier this month. The drive was put off in Balochistan till Dec 30.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2024

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