Another case of poliovirus was reported in the Ghora Bakka Khel union council of district Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, taking the tally to three this year.
The case came to the fore after a girl, aged one-and-a-half years, was crippled by the virus, the officials told Geo News.
All three cases have affected children residing in KP’s Bannu district. Meanwhile, the poliovirus was again detected in the environmental samples of the district.
So far, 34 environmental samples have tested positive for poliovirus in Pakistan.
The government, earlier this week on Monday, began its seven-day anti-polio campaign across the country, with more than 40 million children targeted to receive the anti-polio vaccine along with a supplementary dose of vitamin A.
Caretaker Minister for Health Services Dr Nadeem Jan has urged parents to fully cooperate with the vaccination teams and ensure that their children are vaccinated.
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In Punjab, the polio immunisation campaign will continue for seven days, while the vaccine will be administered for consecutive days in other districts.
In a statement caretaker Punjab Minister for Primary and Secondary Healthcare Dr Jamal Nasir said during the polio campaign 212 million children will be vaccinated and 204,000 polio workers will participate in the campaign.
In KP, the campaign is launched in five divisions — Peshawar, Malakand, Hazara, Mardan and Kohat. More than seven million children up to five years of age are being inoculated during this phase of vaccination. The second phase of the anti-polio drive will begin from next Monday in Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan divisions.
Meanwhile, chairing a meeting of the National Task Force for eradication of polio, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has called on every section of society to play a role in the complete eradication of poliovirus from the country.
Kakar directed the authorities concerned to engage religious scholars, teachers, parents and other stakeholders to become part of the polio awareness campaign in the country.
