Polio cases in Pakistan continue to rise amid the state’s efforts to make the country polio-free.
On Monday, October 28, the Prime Minister of Pakistan announced the launch of week-long countrywide anti-polio vaccination campaign with a special instruction to the workers to ensure that no child in the country should be left out.
This campaign came after the country reported alarming numbers of polio cases as 41 kids across 71 districts were reported to be affected.
On Friday, November 8, the country reported its 47th polio case in Sindh’s Ghotki district, raising health concerns for the concerned authorities, reported Geo News.
A statement released by the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme stated that the lab confirmed detection of WPV1 in a male child in Ghotki, which marks the district’s first polio case.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of 47th Wild Poliovirus Type-1 (WPV1) case in Pakistan,” read the statement.
Pakistan has so far reported 23 cases from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 9 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
The statement also noted that, “Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the child is underway.”
Meanwhile, the 46th case, which was detected on Tuesday, November 5, from Qila Saifullah district of Balochistan, marked the second case of the district, underscoring the province as country’s most affected one.
As per an official of the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication, Balochistan is the most affected province this year because of the protests and militant attacks on vaccination workers and teams.
