Pak’s anti-polio drive suffers a blow after GB reports first case in 7 years

Pakistan efforts to eliminate polio suffered another blow on Monday after a northern enclave reported its first case in seven years. Overall, it was the country's 11th case since January, despite the launch of several immunisation drives.

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The virus was detected in a child from the district of Diamer in the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region, according to the country's polio eradication programme.

The announcement came shortly after the conclusion of Pakistan's third nationwide polio vaccination campaign of the year, which began on May 26 and ended on Sunday.

The campaign reached over 45 million children under the age of five across 159 districts, including many considered high-risk for the virus.

Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan remain the only two countries where the spread of the wild polio virus has not been stopped, according to the World Health Organisation. There are ongoing outbreaks of polio linked to the oral vaccine in IO other countries, mostly in Africa.

Mohammad Iqbal, a director at the polio programme in the northwest, said local health officials were still trying to determine how the poliovirus that was found in the southern port city of Karachi had infected the child in Diamer.

During the summer season, thousands of tourists from Karachi and elsewhere visit tourist resorts in Gilgit-Baltistan.