The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication, established at the National Institute of Health, has confirmed the detection of the 74th case of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in Pakistan for the year 2024.
According to a report by national media on Thursday, officials have stated that another polio case has been confirmed in Badin district of Sindh. The first case of the year was reported from Dera Ismail Khan district in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
A total of 74 polio virus cases were reported in 2024, with 27 cases from Balochistan, 22 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 23 from Sindh, one from Punjab, and one from Islamabad.
According to polio officials, the first nationwide polio eradication campaign of 2025 has successfully concluded, achieving 99% of its targets across the country.
Last month, an official from the National Institute of Health’s laboratory had confirmed the detection of a wild poliovirus type 1 case from Thatta.
This was the first polio virus case from Thatta in 2024. However, since the sample was collected in December last year, it has been included in the statistics of the previous year.
It is noteworthy that the polio eradication campaign was conducted from February 3 to 9, 2025, during which more than 45 million children were administered polio drops.
