Polio cases in Pakistan reach to 30 in 2025

PESHAWAR: A new case of polio virus has been reported in Torghar district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the second case reported from the district this year.

According to the National Polio Program, the virus was found in a 12-month-old child from Union Council Ghari.

The National Institute of Health in Islamabad confirmed the case on Tuesday, taking the total number of polio cases in the country to 30 so far this year.

Of these, 19 were reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 9 from Sindh, and one each from Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Earlier, as part of environmental monitoring, 127 wastewater samples were collected from 87 districts of the country in September. Out of these, 81 samples were negative, while 44 were positive.

According to the National Institute of Health, analysis of the 2 samples is still underway.

According to the report, there has been an overall decrease in the rate of positive samples.

This is the result of successful vaccination campaigns. However, the virus is still circulating in some sensitive areas.

As part of the polio eradication initiative, campaigns are being made more effective in vulnerable areas.

The National Task Force has approved a new roadmap for 2025–26, under which routine vaccination will also be further strengthened.

More than 44 million children were vaccinated during the fourth national polio campaign last week.

The campaign in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will continue from October 20 to 23, with polio eradication declared a national responsibility.