Pakistan has reported four new polio cases, bringing the total number of cases of the crippling disease in the country to 63 for the year – ten times more than last year’s tally of just 6 cases.
Despite repeated nationwide polio vaccination campaigns, two new cases were reported on Friday in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces, Dawn newspaper reported quoting a statement from the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC).
“On Friday, December 13, the laboratory confirmed one polio case each from Dera Ismail Khan, Tank and Jacobabad, where a female child is affected, and Sukkar, where a male child is affected,” the statement said.
“This is the ninth polio case from Dera Ismail Khan, the third from Tank and Jacobabad and the first from Sukkar this year,” it said.
Of the 63 cases reported in the country so far this year, 26 were from Balochistan, 18 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 17 from Sindh and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
Last year, Pakistan reported six polio cases, a sharp decline from the 20 cases expected by 2022, according to the Polio Eradication Programme.
According to the World Health Organization, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in the world where polio remains endemic.
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