ISLAMABAD: A polio case from Sindh was reported by health officials on Saturday. This brings the total tally for the current year to 18 in the country.

The latest victim from Sindh is a 30-month-old baby boy from Kashmore district. “The male child is a resident of Tangwani tehsil, Cheel union council. The right lower limb of the child has been paralysed,” said an official of the National Institute of Health while talking to Dawn.

The provincial break-up for confirmed polio cases for the current year so far is as follows: 10 cases from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, six from Sindh and two from Balochistan.

As many as 146 cases of polio were reported in 2019 as compared to 12 cases in 2018 and only eight cases in 2017.

Dr Rana Safdar, National Manager, Emergency Operations Centre, told Dawn that during the recent polio campaign as many as 39.66 million children under the age of five were successfully vaccinated.

“Catch up in Peshawar, Quetta, Pishin and Qila Abdullah shall continue today [Sunday] as well. We hope that the virus would be controlled during the current year,” he added.

This year’s first nationwide polio vaccination drive began on Monday, apart from Karachi where the campaign began a week ago involving nearly 265,000 polio workers going door-to-door to inoculate children under the age of five.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2020