ISLAMABAD: A polio case has been reported from Sindh, bringing the number of cases reported in the country this year to seven.

Polio Virology Laboratory at the National Institute of Health said on Friday that Saleem, a five-year-old boy of Union Council Shabirabad in Shikarpur, was confirmed to have caught the disease. His sample was collected on March 6.

An official of the Emergency Operation Centre said that this year three cases each had been reported from Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one from Balochistan.

Talking to Dawn, head of the National Emergency Operation Centre, Dr Rana Safdar said it was yet to be determined where the virus had its origin. The virus last found in a child in Jacobabad belonged to Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Dr Safdar expressed the hope that the virus would be eradicated from Pakistan by the end of the year.

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2016