Another polio case emerges in Pakistan

TANK: Pakistan’s 69th polio case for 2024 emerged from Tank in November last year, but has only come to light now on January 7.

The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH) had confirmed the detection of the virus. On January 7, the lab issued a confirmation regarding a case from Tank, making it the fifth case from the district in 2024.

Out of the total tally, 27 cases emerged from Balochistan, 21 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 19 from Sindh, one from Punjab and one from the federal capital Islamabad.

The Pakistan Polio Program conducts multiple anti-polio vaccination campaigns in every year. In 2024, the final country-wide campaign began on December 16. However, Balochistan delayed the campaign until December 30, while the Kurram district could not gain access to the vaccines due to continued road closures.

In 2025, the first anti-polio campaign of the year is scheduled to begin from February 3 and continue until February 9.

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