ISLAMABAD: (HRNW) Minister for National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination Abdul Qadir Patel Tuesday confirmed Pakistan’s first detection of the wild poliovirus in 2023 — found in an environmental sample in Lahore.
The last poliovirus case from Lahore was reported in July 2020. However, the virus has been periodically detected in its sewage water. Last year, four environmental samples were found positive for the virus.
The poliovirus found in Gulshan-e-Ravi’s sample found links to Afghanistan’s Nangahar province from last November, the Pakistan Polio Laboratory at the National Institute of Health (NIH) said.
Meanwhile, Patel said that the two “countries are united in the fight against the virus and are working together to eradicate” the crippling disease.
He renewed the government’s commitment to completely eradicate the crippling disease from the country.