3 year old acquires poliovirus in Sindh's Jacobabad: sources

KARACHI: Sources close to the Ministry of Health revealed another case of poliovirus in the country on Saturday, ARY News reported.

Sources claimed that that the patient is a three year old child hailing from Sindh’s Jacobabad region.

Read More: Two more minors fall victim to life-crippling poliovirus in Sindh

Sources added that the recent case puts the current tally of polio cases across Pakistan in the ongoing year up to 37.

Three new polio cases surfaced in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on March 29, raising the tally of such patients in the province to 18 during the current month.

Read More: Three more polio cases surface in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

According to KP Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) for Polio Eradication, the polio cases were reported in Lakki Marwat, Tank district and Karak.

A spokesperson for the EOC said that the children infected with the crippling disease were not administered the anti-polio vaccine.

Read More: Global polio eradication campaigns suspended – first time in 30 years

The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt an unprecedented blow to the world’s battle against polio, the head of the global organisation to combat the disease suspended vaccination campaigns for the first time in three decades.

With the coronavirus marching swiftly across the world and nations imposing strict travel restrictions to slow its spread, the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) has announced that its health workers cannot continue their immunisation drives — and warned this risks a resurgence of the poliovirus.