ISLAMABAD: The number of reported cases of poliovirus this year increased to four on Saturday after a toddler was found infected with the crippling disease.
The development signifies the challenge that lays ahead for the new head of the polio eradication programme who was appointed on Saturday.
A document showed the victim was a 30-month-old child hailing from Bhirkan Union Council in Lakhi tehsil, Shikarpur.
This was the first case to be reported from Sindh, as the previous three victims belong to Balochistan.
According to the National Institute of Health in Islamabad, the newest case was also of the Type-1 Wild Poliovirus (WPV1), just like the previous three cases.
The child was taken to a hospital after he suddenly developed weakness in both lower limbs and could not hold his neck up.
He has been administered with several Oral Polio Vaccines during previous immunisation campaigns, but authorities are verifying the claim.
PM’s coordinator on National Health Services Dr Malik Mukhtar Bharat said team have been deployed to conduct a full case investigation.