Northern Pakistan has reported its first Polio case in almost seven years, dealing a blow to the South Asian nation’s campaign to eradicate the infectious disease.
The virus was detected in a 23-month-old child from Diamer district in the Gilgit-Baltistan region, according to the country's polio eradication programme. This is Pakistan’s 11th case since January this year, despite the launch of several immunisation drives.
The case was reported after a polio eradication team came under fire on Sunday, police said.
According to local police, unknown armed men opened fire on the polio team in Sheikho village of the Tangir Valley, accusing them of “ruining the environment” through the health campaign. The vehicle of the team was stopped at the RCC bridge.
“You all are ruining the environment here by bringing [unveiled] women from Gilgit in the name of the polio campaign. If you do this again, you won’t be able to escape,” the armed gunmen said, according to Dawn.
The shots fired by them punctured the tyres of the polio team’s vehicle, the police said.
Regional officials said they were aware of the incident and had ordered strict action. Faizullah Faraq, spokesperson for the Gilgit-Baltistan administration, said the chief minister had taken note of the firing.
He added that the polio monitoring team was moved to a safe location immediately after the incident. He said the incident occurred because the polio team had gone to the area “without informing the police”.
Authorities were still trying to determine how the poliovirus, initially found in the southern port city of Karachi, had infected the child in Diamer, Mohammad Iqbal, a director at the polio programme in the northwest, said.
Thousands of tourists from Karachi and elsewhere visit resorts in Gilgit-Baltistan during the summer season.
The latest case emerged after Pakistan wrapped up its third nationwide polio vaccination drive of the year on Sunday, aiming to immunize 45 million children.
Pakistan and its neighbour Afghanistan are the only two countries where the spread of the wild polio virus has not been stopped, according to the World Health Organization.
There are ongoing outbreaks of polio linked to the oral vaccine in 10 other countries, mostly in Africa.
Pakistan has faced vaccine hesitancy and misinformation campaigns which have slowed progress in eradicating the disease.
Healthcare workers and police assigned to protect them are sometimes targeted by gunmen who falsely claim the polio vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilise children.
Since the 1990s, attacks on polio vaccination teams in the country have killed over 200 workers and security personnel.
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