ISLAMABAD, Dec 31 (NNN-APP) – Pakistan reported one more polio case, increasing the total number of cases in the country this year to 68, said the National Institute of Health (NIH), yesterday.
According to a statement, the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health, detected the case of the wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1).
The latest case was confirmed from Dera Ismail Khan district of the country’s north-west Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The NIH added, it is the 10th polio case from Dera Ismail Khan this year.
The data revealed that out of the total 68 cases, 27 were reported from south-west Balochistan province, 20 from north-west Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, 19 from southern Sindh province, and one each from eastern Punjab province and the capital Islamabad.
The Pakistan Polio Programme conducts multiple mass vaccination drives in a year, bringing the vaccine to children at their doorsteps.
The NIH told the masses that, the multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five are essential to providing children with high immunity against this terrible disease.
A large-scale vaccination campaign was conducted earlier this month in 143 districts, to provide immunisation with a target to vaccinate over 44 million children under five years of age.
The second phase of the campaign started yesterday, which would provide vaccination to children in the Balochistan province, added the NIH.– NNN-APP
