Successful campaigns help control polio: official

LAHORE: Secretary Primary & Secondary Healthcare (PS&HC) Sarah Aslam reviewed the report of polio in years 2019 and 2020 here on Thursday. She said both the years were difficult for polio eradication for different reasons. 2019 saw a large gap in campaigns following the Peshawar incident in April as a result the virus got a chance to spread, even in areas not considered at high risk. This massive spread resulted in 147 cases of polio in Pakistan in 2019, 12 cases were reported in Punjab. However, Punjab health department under the leadership of Health Minister and polio-free vision of Chief Minister had re-strategize and started to recover with successful back-to-back campaigns in the end of 2019 and March 2020. That was the time when COVID-19 pandemic emerged.