Section 144 enforced in Bannu for seven days

BANNU: Section 144 has been imposed in Khyber Pakhtunkhuwa’s Bannu for seven days, ARY News reported on Sunday.

As per details, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Abdul Hameed announced the imposition of Section 144 across the district for seven days, effective immediately.

The restrictions include a ban on carrying weapons, double riding on motorcycles, and the use of tinted vehicle windows.

The Bannu DC clarified that these measures have been implemented in connection with the anti-polio campaign starting tomorrow.

He further warned that strict action will be taken against those violating the restrictions.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is set to launch an anti-polio campaign tomorrow (December 16) amid challenges of vaccination refusal, missed targets, fake finger marking, and lack of support by the district administrations and district health officers.

The province is home to around 7.3 million children of the countrywide 44m population aged below five, and is facing chronic challenges posed by non-vaccination of less than one per cent of the total target population, according to health officials.

Symptoms and risk

Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours.

The poliovirus is transmitted by person-to-person spread mainly through the faecal-oral route or, less frequently, by a common vehicle (for example, contaminated water or food) and multiplies in the intestine. Initial symptoms are fever, fatigue, headache, vomiting, stiffness of the neck and pain in the limbs.

One in 200 infections leads to irreversible paralysis (usually in the legs). Among those paralysed, 5–10% die when their breathing muscles become immobilized.

The disease mainly affects children under 5 years of age. However, anyone of any age who is unvaccinated can contract the disease.

There is no cure for the crippling disease, it can only be prevented. Polio vaccine, given multiple times, can protect a child for life.

There are two vaccines available: oral polio vaccine and inactivated polio vaccine. Both are effective and safe, and both are used in different combinations worldwide, depending on local epidemiological and programmatic circumstances, to ensure the best possible protection to populations can be provided.