Last Updated on October 20, 2026 by YeJahan
YEJAHAN REPORT
KARACHI (Oct 19): A six-month-old boy from the Karachi East district has tested positive for wild poliovirus, marking the metropolis’s first confirmed case of the crippling disease in nearly two years.
The latest infection elevates Pakistan’s nationwide polio case count to seven for 2026, the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) confirmed on Monday. Prior to this detection, Karachi’s last reported case occurred in December 2024.
Of the seven cases recorded across the country this year, five have been detected in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, while two have emerged from Sindh. Officials noted that while large-scale immunisation drives have taken place, Karachi continues to show persistent environmental detections of the virus, indicating an ongoing risk of transmission.
In response to the persistent threat, health authorities announced that a sub-national polio vaccination campaign will run from November 2 to November 8, 2026. The upcoming week-long drive aims to inoculate over 23.9 million children under five years of age across 97 vulnerable districts nationwide, including all districts within Karachi.
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Health officials reiterated that while poliomyelitis remains incurable, it is entirely preventable through consistent immunization. The Emergency Operations Centre urged parents to ensure their children receive the oral polio vaccine drops during every targeted drive to ensure complete immunity, while calling on all segments of society to support the national eradication campaign.
The Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme has been actively working to eliminate the infectious virus from the country since 1994. Pakistan and neighbouring Afghanistan remain the only two countries globally where the wild poliovirus continues to be endemic.
Copyright YeJahan News Network, 2026
