ISLAMABAD – The World Health Organization (WHO) has extended travelrestrictions to Pakistan for another three months despite a drop in newcases.
The UN agency responsible for international public health has againextended travel restrictions on the South Asian country by three months dueto it being listed among the last polio-endemic countries.
Polio surveillance will continue in Islamabad for an additional threemonths, while citizens traveling abroad will be required to prove polioimmunization.
The 30th Polio IHR Emergency Committee stated that the two countries,Pakistan and Afghanistan, failed to eradicate polio fully and may beresponsible for the virus’s global spread.
WHO deemed the neighboring countries to be dangerous in a recent statementfor the contagious virus that can result in the spinal cord and brainstemparalysis.
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It further added that the committee observed that Islamabad’s main problemcontinues to be the ‘persistently overlooked children’ in core reservoirs,as well as dealing with parental refusals and troubling polio vaccinationprograms in hotspot areas.
The committee however noted that the viral presence in the country’ssewerage systems has been reduced which helped to curb the infection. Theofficials however said Afghanistan to be the primary source of Polio Virus,which enters Pakistan via refugee migration.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has made remarkable progress against polio, as theincidence of Wild Polio Virus cases has plunged to zero in the previous tenmonths – decreased from 84 reported cases in the last year.
