Fourth case reported in Bannu

A new polio case has been confirmed in Bannu district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), taking the number of cases reported in the country this year to four, the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at Islamabad's National Institute of Health (NIH) said on Friday.

The latest case was detected in an eight-month-old child from Union Council Noor of Miryan tehsil in Bannu district, according to officials. The case is the third reported from K-P in 2026.

Earlier, one case each had been reported from Bannu and North Waziristan. With the latest case, the national tally has reached four, including three from K-P and one from Sindh.

Meanwhile, the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) has announced a sub-national polio vaccination campaign in 115 districts from September 21 to 27. During the campaign, around 31 million children under five years of age will be administered polio drops by trained vaccination workers.

In Punjab, the campaign will cover 13 districts and target 10.6 million children, while in Sindh, 30 districts will be covered, with 10 million children targeted.

In K-P, vaccination teams will cover 37 districts and administer drops to 7.3 million children. In Balochistan, 32 districts will be covered, with 2.3 million children targeted. The campaign will also cover 447,000 children in Islamabad and 137,000 children in two districts of Gilgit-Baltistan.

The NEOC urged parents to cooperate fully with polio teams and ensure every child below five receives polio drops during the campaign, stressing that providing children with a polio-free future is a shared national responsibility.