Web desk: A new case of polio has been confirmed in the Hyderabad district of Sindh, taking the total number of cases in Pakistan this year to 27, officials said on Monday.
According to the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at Islamabad’s National Institute of Health (NIH), the case involves an eight-month-old girl from Sindh.
With the addition of this new case, the province has now reported seven cases so far in 2025.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) remains the worst-hit with 18 cases, while Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan have each reported one case this year.
The confirmation comes just weeks before a nationwide polio vaccination drive, scheduled from October 13 to 19.
The campaign will involve more than 400,000 health workers, aiming to vaccinate about 45.4 million children across the country.
This upcoming drive follows the Sub-National Polio Vaccination Campaign led by the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) earlier this month.
That effort covered 88 districts, including Hyderabad, and reached nearly 21 million children under the age of five.
Polio is a highly contagious disease that has no cure and can cause permanent paralysis.
The importance of this vaccine is highlighted by the fact that the only way to protect children is through repeated doses of the Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) in every round of the campaign, along with timely routine immunisation.
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