PESHAWAR: Two more cases of poliovirus have surfaced in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa bringing the total number of cases reported in the province this year to 13.
According to the provincial health department, a 12-year-old girl belonging to Dera Ismail Khan and a 17-month old child belonging to North Waziristan have been diagnosed with the virus.
With the emergence of these two cases, the total number of poliovirus cases reported in the country this year has reached 18.
Last week, a three-year-old child belonging to Zeraki Baadshah Kot village of North Waziristan was diagnosed with the virus.
Reports suggested that the child was suffering from high-grade fever and was taken to a dispensary in the village where an injection was administered.
In April, protesters burnt down a health facility in Peshawar following reports that multiple children had fallen sick after being administered the anti-polio vaccine.
The protest was triggered by hearsay as medics at Peshawar’s Lady Reading Hospital, where most of the children were taken, said that an overwhelming majority of them were fine.
The protesters mobbed the Basic Health Unit Mashokhel and ransacked the premises before setting it on fire.
No one was hurt as the staff had left before the protesters reached there. However, the untoward incident has created panic among the polio teams.