Two new polio cases reported in northwest Pakistan

Two new cases of polio have surfaced in northwest Pakistan, taking the number of those affected by the disease in the region this year to 115. The Emergency Operation Centre (EOC) of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province in a statement confirmed the presence of polio in stool samples of the two children.

"With the addition of these two cases, the total number of polio cases in the province has risen to 115 this year," the EOC said in a statement. It was said that the children were not administered anti-polio drops due to opposition by parents to the medicine.

Khyber-Pakhtukhwa topped the list of maximum polio cases in 2019, followed by Sindh with 19 cases, Balochistan with 9 and Punjab with 6 cases. Pakistan is one of the three countries, along with Afghanistan and Nigeria, where polio is still endemic.

However, attempts to eradicate the crippling disease in Pakistan have been seriously hampered by deadly targeting of vaccination teams in recent years by militants, who oppose the drives, claiming that the polio drops cause infertility. Attacks on immunization teams have claimed 68 lives since December 2012.

Two policemen escorting a team of polio workers were killed by unidentified gunmen on December 18 in Dir district of the province.