ISLAMABAD: Seven new polio cases have surfaced in Pakistan in August, taking the total number of such cases in the country to 16 so far in 2024, says the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme (PPEP).
The year’s first case was detected on June 8th in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan. The latest case, involving wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1), was confirmed in Hyderabad, Sindh, in a 29-month-old child from the district.
This year’s cases are distributed across 62 districts, with 12 reported in Balochistan, three in Sindh, and one in Punjab. Notably, no cases have been reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK).
In Balochistan, eight of the 12 cases occurred in Pashtun-majority districts near the Afghan border: five in Qilla Abdullah, one in Chaman, one in Zhob, and one in Killa Saifullah. Additional cases were reported in Dera Bugti, Quetta, Jhal Magsi, and Kharan districts.
Sindh has seen cases in Shikarpur, Karachi, Keamari, and Hyderabad, while Punjab reported a single case in Chakwal district.