Anti-polio campaign to begin in KP as environmental samples test positive

The Coordinator Emergency Operation Center (ECO) said in a statement on Sunday that environmental samples collected from different districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have tested positive for poliovirus.

Following the confirmation of disease, the official said anti-polio campaign will be started in seven districts of the province.

The anti-polio drive be carried out in Peshawar, Nowshera, Mohmand, Hangu, Khyber, Kohat and Charsadda districts from tomorrow (Monday).

According to the statement, polio vaccination will be administered to refugees in Pak-Afghan camps as well.

As many as 14,000 police personnel have been deployed for the security of the polio teams, it added.

Earlier this month, the poliovirus was detected in the environmental sample collected from Karachi’s Gadap area last month, head of polio programme Dr Shahzad Baig had said in a statement.

He said the virus was detected in environmental samples collected from Karachi's Gadap Town UC-4 in the Sohrab Goth area on May 15 this year.

The polio programme chief said the disease was successfully limited to southern districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and added that this was the first case reported from Karachi this year so far.

Polio has been virtually eradicated from the world.

However, this has not been completely eliminated from Afghanistan and in some parts of neighbouring Pakistan due to inaccessible areas, mass displacement and suspicions of foreign interventions that hindered the eradication efforts.