GENEVA: The World Health Organization (WHO) has decided to maintain a temporary travel ban on Pakistan due to the increasing number of polio cases.
At the 25th meeting of the World Health Organization’s International Health Regulation Emergency Committee, the temporary travel ban on the country has been extended until 3rd October.
Under the restrictions, people traveling outside Pakistan must be vaccinated against polio. According to the WHO, some areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have become new strongholds of the poliovirus. The transmission of viruses is also going on uninterruptedly in Karachi and Quetta.
The WHO expressed concern that the presence of polio has been increasing in safe areas of Punjab and Sindh. It may be recalled that 58 cases of type 1 and 47 cases of type 2 virus have been reported in Pakistan this year.
Read more: Three-day polio campaign starts on July 20 in Karachi
More than 30 million children are deprived of the polio vaccine due to the cessation of anti-polio activities due to the coronavirus. However, a three-day anti-polio vaccination drive will begin in Karachi from 20th to 23rd July. Moreover, global polio eradication campaigns were also suspended in March for the first time in three decades amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by the poliovirus mostly affecting children under the age of five. It invades the nervous system and causes paralysis or even death. Unfortunately, Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan and Nigeria, affected by poliovirus.
ADVERTISEMENT
