AGL 38.00 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.03%)
AIRLINK 210.38 Decreased By ▼ -5.15 (-2.39%)
BOP 9.48 Decreased By ▼ -0.32 (-3.27%)
CNERGY 6.48 Decreased By ▼ -0.31 (-4.57%)
DCL 8.96 Decreased By ▼ -0.21 (-2.29%)
DFML 38.37 Decreased By ▼ -0.59 (-1.51%)
DGKC 96.92 Decreased By ▼ -3.33 (-3.32%)
FCCL 36.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.30 (-0.82%)
FFBL 88.94 No Change ▼ 0.00 (0%)
FFL 14.95 Increased By ▲ 0.46 (3.17%)
HUBC 130.69 Decreased By ▼ -3.44 (-2.56%)
HUMNL 13.29 Decreased By ▼ -0.34 (-2.49%)
KEL 5.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.19 (-3.34%)
KOSM 6.93 Decreased By ▼ -0.39 (-5.33%)
MLCF 44.78 Decreased By ▼ -1.09 (-2.38%)
NBP 59.07 Decreased By ▼ -2.21 (-3.61%)
OGDC 230.13 Decreased By ▼ -2.46 (-1.06%)
PAEL 39.29 Decreased By ▼ -1.44 (-3.54%)
PIBTL 8.31 Decreased By ▼ -0.27 (-3.15%)
PPL 200.35 Decreased By ▼ -2.99 (-1.47%)
PRL 38.88 Decreased By ▼ -1.93 (-4.73%)
PTC 26.88 Decreased By ▼ -1.43 (-5.05%)
SEARL 103.63 Decreased By ▼ -4.88 (-4.5%)
TELE 8.45 Decreased By ▼ -0.29 (-3.32%)
TOMCL 35.25 Decreased By ▼ -0.58 (-1.62%)
TPLP 13.52 Decreased By ▼ -0.32 (-2.31%)
TREET 25.01 Increased By ▲ 0.63 (2.58%)
TRG 64.12 Increased By ▲ 2.97 (4.86%)
UNITY 34.52 Decreased By ▼ -0.32 (-0.92%)
WTL 1.78 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (3.49%)
BR100 12,096 Decreased By -150 (-1.22%)
BR30 37,715 Decreased By -670.4 (-1.75%)
KSE100 112,415 Decreased By -1509.6 (-1.33%)
KSE30 35,508 Decreased By -535.7 (-1.49%)

ISLAMABAD: The National Emergence Operation Centre (NEOC) on Polio Sunday confirmed five new polio cases across the country, including three from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

According to an NEOC official, one each case was reported from Bannu, Waziristan and Hangu in KP, and two from Hyderabad, Sindh.

He said with addition of five new cases, the figure of confirmed polio cases reached 58 for the current year, out of which 44 were from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including 32 from Bannu division.

The official said the polio virus situation in the KP was alarming and the government had planned to start polio immunization drive in 26 districts of the province from Monday.

He said the cause behind having polio virus in Bannu was refusal of polio vaccination to their children by parents. After confirmation of polio virus, the parents accepted that they had refused the vaccination for their children on wrong propaganda, he added.

The official said the extensive environmental surveillance established by the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme had detected the poliovirus from sewage of 10 cities during last month.

According to the results shared by the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC), the presence of poliovirus was confirmed in sewage samples collected from Faisalabad, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Sukkur, Killa Abdullah, Quetta, Dera Ismail Khan, Peshawar and South Waziristan.

Considering the associated risks, the country programme had urged the parents to ensure immunization of all children under the age of five years during the polio campaigns, he added.

He said, “Polio eradication is a delicate time race between parents and health-care workers, and a deadly poliovirus. We have to collectively ensure that we reach all children with multiple doses of vaccination before this dangerous poliovirus found in the sewages of these towns reach unprotected children.”

He said the programme was focusing on children who missed vaccination because on any reason and let the virus survive no longer. The continued presence of poliovirus in the sewage of major cities posed risks to all vulnerable and unprotected children across Pakistan, he added.

The official said polio was a highly infectious disease caused by poliovirus mainly affecting children under the age of ten years. "It invades the nervous system, and can cause paralysis or even death."

He added while there was no cure for polio, vaccination was the most effective way to protect children from the crippling disease. "Each time a child under the age of five is vaccinated, their protection against the virus is increased."

He said repeated immunizations had protected millions of children from polio, allowing almost all countries in the world to become polio free.

Copyright APP (Associated Press of Pakistan), 2019

Comments

Comments are closed.