Officials at the National Institute of Health (NIH) in Islamabad told The Express Tribune that the samples for the polio cases in Killa Abdullah and Khyber Agency were obtained on November 30 and December 8, respectively, while those from Peshawar were obtained on November 30 and December 2.
News of the surge came on Friday just as the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa health department concluded a four-day polio immunisation and case response campaign. This was followed by a two-day catch up campaign in various districts of the province.
Officials at the provincial polio control room said the campaign completely covered the Bannu, Charsadda, Hangu, Karak, Kohat, Lakki Marwat, Mardan, Nowshera, Swat, Shangla, Tank and Torghar districts. Eight other districts, including Abbottabad, Buner, Chitral, Lower Dir, Haripur, Kohistan, Mansehra and Malakand were covered partially, they said.
Health officials informed that over 2.87 million children were administered anti-polio drops during the recent campaign in almost 20 districts across the province adding that a total of 8,103 mobile teams, including 748 fixed and 412 transmit teams took part in the drive where 1,836 people had been designated as area in charges.
Strict security measures were adopted during the ongoing anti-polio drive across the province and motorcycles were banned in areas where polio vaccination was held.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 27th, 2014.
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