Polio surge in Pakistan: 42nd case of the year reported
Pakistan health officials confirmed the detection of the 42nd Wild Poliovirus Type-1 (WPV1) case in Pakistan.
On Tuesday, October 29, 2024, the lab confirmed detection of Type-1 Wild Poliovirus in a child from Nowshera District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
This is the first polio case from Nowshera and the42nd case from Pakistan at large this year. So far, 21 cases have been reported from Balochistan, 12 from Sindh, seven from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
This is the most cases reported in Pakistan since 2020 when 84 cases were reported.
A nationwide polio vaccination campaign is currently underway in the country (28 October - 3 November) to vaccinate more than 45 million children under the age of five against paralytic polio.
According to a Dawn report today, two policemen guarding a polio vaccination team were shot dead by militants in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Orakzai district on Tuesday, following which two attackers were also killed, police said.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries where polio remains endemic, and vaccination teams are frequently targeted by militants waging a campaign against security forces.