Two more children were diagnosed with poliovirus in the country on Saturday, one each in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh, raising the total number of polio cases reported this year in Pakistan to 31.

Unfortunately, both the children became a victim of polio notwithstanding the fact that they were administered with vaccination.

The province-wise distribution shows that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa tops the list with 16, followed by Sindh nine, Balochistan five and Punjab one.

24NewsHD reported that although polio drops had been administered to Fareeha – a three-old-girl who belongs to Khyber district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, she still contracted poliovirus.

On the other hand, the other three-year-old girl is a resident of Morro tehsil of Naushahro Feroze district, Sindh.

Some reports suggest that this child too became a victim of the paralysing disease despite having been administered with seven doses of oral polio vaccine.

The new polio cases in Sindh have been reported from different districts, including Kambar, Dadu, Sujawal and Naushahro Feroze.

Pakistan has been unable to eliminate polio despite the hope expressed two/three years ago – a period when there was a remarkable reduction in new cases. In fact, the situation is worsening for the last year or so.

In 2015, 54 polio cases were reported after which there was a clear decline in the number, as the number had reduced to 20 in 2016, eight in 2017 and 12 in 2018. But a sharp alarming rise was witnessed in 2019 with 146 polio cases.

Earlier this week, three polio cases were reported from Tank, Lakki Marwat, South Waziristan districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one from Zhob, Balochistan.