Daily Times

Another poliovirus case has been reported in the North Waziristan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, bringing the total number of cases reported this year in the country to seven. All the cases are from North Waziristan’s Mir Ali tehsil. Federal Health Minister Abdul Qadir Baloch has likened the situation in Mir Ali to an “outbreak” and said that the government was dealing with polio cases on “war footings”. The latest victim to be affected by poliovirus is a girl child. On May 27, Pakistan reported two Poliovirus cases from Mir Ali after samples taken from two 18-month-old babies tested positive for the poliovirus. One case was reported from Union Council-2 and the other from Union Council-7. These were the fourth and fifth cases of poliovirus to be reported from the tehsil. The district has fast become a hotspot for polio with all seven cases reported in 2022, confirmed from this particular district. Earlier cases reported this year were of Type-1 Wild Poliovirus (WPV1) strain and were detected from stool samples.