ISLAMABAD: Another case of poliovirus has taken last year’s tally of cases to 70, officials have confirmed.

The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Era­dication at the National Ins­­­titute of Health has con­­firmed the detection of wi­­­­ld poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in a male child from Karachi’s East district.

The case has been cou­nted in last year’s tally as the sample was collected in 2024, a lab official said.

Karachi’s East district has now reported two polio cases in 2024.

The country has been responding to an intense resurgence of WPV1, with 70 cases reported in 2024.

Of these, 27 are from Ba­­lochistan, 21 from Khy­b­er Pakhtunkhwa, 20 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

Amid mounting number of cases, the gov­e­rnment has intensified ef­­forts to control the spread of the crippling disease.

The year’s first nationwide vaccination campai­­gn is scheduled from Feb 3 to Feb 9.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2025