Six new polio cases surface in Pakistan

Six new polio cases have been detected in Pakistan, bringing  2019’s tally to a total of 134.

The overall tally of reported polio cases across the country has climbed to 134 this year, including 91 cases in KP, 24 cases in Sindh, eight in Punjab, and 11 in Balochistan.

These cases fall in last year’s tally based on the date of detection of the virus in the children.

A three-year-old child, the first case of Sindh, was reported in union council Lalu Raunk of Qambar, reported APP. According to the parents, the child did receive oral polio vaccine but no routine immunization or IPV.

Two girls were infected by polio virus in Punjab’s Dera Ghazi Khan District. The cases of the girls, one aged six months and the other a year old, were confirmed by the concerned authorities.

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar, taking notice of the matter, summoned a report from the Ministry of Health. CM Buzdar also urged concerned departments to work hard to get rid of the crippling disease.

Two more polio cases surfaced in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well, taking the province’s tally to 91.

KP’s Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) for Polio said that a two-year-old boy from Dera Ismail Khan and nine-month-old girl from Lakki Marwat’s Tehsil Sari Naurang have been affected by the polio virus.

The centre’s spokesperson said routine immunisation coverage remains to be a major challenge that was further aggravated due to long gap in door to door campaigns last year.

It was claimed that National EOC and Sindh EOC were trying to fight back and get polio eradication on track so as to reverse the trend.