Six more polio cases have surfaced in the country, including two in Sindh, confirmed by the province’s Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) on Thursday.
The Emergency Operation Centre for polio (EOC) in Sindh has confirmed two new polio cases for the year 2019, takes the total tally of Sindh to 24. Spokesperson EOC official said one polio case was detected from Jamshoro and another from Kambar. He clarified that these are not cases from this year but instead from 2019.
In district Kambar, UC Lalu Raunk a 36 month old male child has been affected by polio with weakness on both lower limbs and the date of onset was 14-12-2019. According to parents he had received OPV according to parents but no routine immunization or IPV.
In Jamshoro a 144 month male was notified as a polio case with the date of onset being 22-12-19. The child was tested for the polio virus after facing weakness in his facial muscles.
He said routine immunization coverage still remains a significant challenge as evident by the recent polio cases. This coupled with the long gap in door to door campaigns during 2019 has created a large pool of vulnerable children. However, we have a golden opportunity to turn this around.
National EOC and Simdh EOC have started to fight back to get polio eradication on track and reverse this trend. The first step was the successful Dec NID and now areas with recent detections are being targeted in special response round starting from 13th Jan. We will follow this up with two NIDs in Feb and April with another targeted case response in between.
Efforts from Dec – April will bridge the immunity gap that will Insha’Allah lead to significant decrease in intensity of virus transmission in 2nd half of 2020.
The current risk to our children is very real and while it is our job to deliver these vaccines at the doorstep, caregivers must also step up and protect their children through vaccinations.
The National EOC and Sindh EOC urged parents to ensure immunization of their children both in routine as well as the special campaigns planned by the programme during next few months.
Meanwhile, two little girls were infected by polio virus in Punjab’s Dera Ghazi Khan district. The cases of the girls, aged six months and one year, were confirmed by the concerned authorities. Chief Minister of Punjab Usman Buzdar while taking notice of the matter has summoned report from the Ministry of Health. The chief minister has also urged concerned departments to work hard to get rid of the crippling disease.
Two more polio cases have surfaced in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa taking the province’s tally to 91. KP’s Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) for Polio said that two-year-old boy from Dera Ismail Khan and nine-month-old girl from Lakki Marwat’s tehsil Sari Naurang have been affected by the polio virus.
