Two more polio cases have been discovered in Karachi and North Waziristan, taking the total number to 62 for just this year after the detection of the virus in two infants on Sunday.
An eight-month-old girl was diagnosed with polio virus in Karachi’s Orangi Town, whereas, doctors have confirmed polio virus in Ladha tehsil of North Waziristan.
Sources said that the parents of both children had rejected administration of polio drops.
For this year, 35 cases have been reported so far from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with an additional 11 from the former tribal administration zone, 6 from Sindh, and 5 each from Balochistan and Punjab.
Fundamentalist organizations have continued to claim that the polio vaccine causes sterility in men. In recent months, households have even started to "fake" polio markers at their doorsteps, to avoid interacting with polio workers.
The polio-count this year is the highest in years, with only 12 cases documented in 2018, 8 in 2017, and 20 in 2016. In 2015, the annual polio-count was 54, still lower than an almost mid-year count of 62.