Pakistan: 5 children tested positive for polio, total 58 affected this year

At least five more children were tested positive for poliovirus in Pakistan on Sunday.

With this, the number of polio cases in the country has climbed to 58 this year, reported Dawn.

Out of the five new cases, three are from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and two are from Sindh.

Prime Minister's Focal Person on Polio Eradication, Babar Bin Atta, has confirmed that five more children were infected with the virus of polio.

"Three girls were paralysed in KP. All the three had not received a single dose of polio vaccine during routine immunisation," the official said.

There is an increase in the polio cases in Pakistan this year as compared to the figures in 2018 and 2017. While 58 cases have been confirmed in the South Asian country until now, only 12 and eight cases were confirmed in 2018 and 2017, respectively.

Of the newly confirmed victims, the youngest is merely 22-month-old.

While polio is highly infectious, it is easily preventable by the polio vaccine.

Polio cases are presently reported from two countries, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Due to this, nationals of either of the countries undertaking travel abroad are recommended to be vaccinated at the start of their journey by the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), the Pakistani daily added.