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KARACHI: Pakistan reported a new polio case from the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province on Monday, taking the nationwide tally to 24 this year as authorities launched a fresh vaccination campaign in selected districts of the country today. 

The latest case was reported from the country’s northwestern Tank district, raising the number of polio cases reported from KP this year to 16. Pakistan’s southern Sindh province has reported six cases while Punjab and northern Gilgit-Baltistan have reported one case of the infection each.

Polio is a highly infectious and incurable disease that can cause lifelong paralysis. The only protection is repeated doses of oral vaccine for every child under five, along with timely routine immunizations.

“The latest polio case involves a 20-month-old girl from Union Council Ping A, District Tank,” the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme said in a statement. 

Pakistan launched a phase-wise polio vaccination campaign in 99 targeted districts across the country on Monday, the National Emergency Operations Center (NEOC) said in a statement. 

The NEOC said over 240,000 polio volunteers are participating in the drive. It said more than 4.1 million children will receive the vaccine in seven high-risk districts in Punjab while more than 8.9 million children will be vaccinated in 25 high-risk districts of Sindh. 

“In 26 high-risk districts of Balochistan, vaccination will be ensured for more than 2.1 million children,” the NEOC said, adding that more than 5.7 million children will be vaccinated in 27 high-risk districts of KP province.

The campaign will also cover Islamabad and two districts each of Azad Kashmir and GB, while it was postponed in nine districts of Punjab last week due to floods.

The NEOC urged parents to cooperate with polio teams and complete the immunization timely.

“Ensure that all your children under five years of age are given the polio drops,” the statement said. “Complete the routine immunization schedule for your children on time to protect them from polio and other diseases.”

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio remains endemic. 

The country made significant progress in curbing the virus, with annual cases dropping from around 20,000 in the early 1990s to just eight in 2018. Pakistan reported six cases in 2023 and only one in 2021, but the country saw a sharp resurgence in 2024 with 74 cases recorded.

Pakistan’s polio program began in 1994, but efforts to eradicate the virus have been repeatedly undermined by vaccine misinformation and resistance from some religious hard-liners who claim that immunization is a foreign plot to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western espionage.

Militant groups have also frequently targeted polio vaccination teams and the security personnel assigned to protect them, often resulting in deadly attacks, particularly in KP and Balochistan.

JHANG, Pakistan: Emergency workers in Pakistan’s Punjab province used drones to find people stranded on rooftops by massive floods as the government expanded what it called its largest rescue operation, with more than 700,000 evacuated, officials said Monday.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department warned of more heavy rain in Punjab’s flood-hit districts and elsewhere in the country, where weeks of above-normal rainfall and the release of huge volumes of water from dams in neighboring India last week caused rivers to overflow into low-lying regions.

In Multan and Jhang districts, residents on Monday waded through floodwaters carrying their belongings to roadsides and higher ground. They said they had waited for rescuers before crossing on their own nearly 5-foot (1 1/2-meter) -deep water to reach safety, while many others remained stranded.

Since last week, rescuers, backed by the military and emergency services, have evacuated more than 700,000 people, said Irfan Ali Kathia, director general of the Punjab Disaster Management Authority. More than 500,000 farm animals were also moved to safety, he said.

“We are handling an unprecedented situation, and we are responding to the country’s biggest-ever floods by using the latest technology and all available resources to save lives,” Kathia told The Associated Press. The Punjab government said drones were deployed this week in Multan, Jhang and other districts.

“Our priority is to save lives and ensure a steady supply of essential items to survivors,” Kathia said. 

The deluge has swamped Narowal, Sialkot and Kasur districts while entire villages have been submerged in Jhang and Multan.

‘Everything is gone’

On dusty roadside embankments, displaced families complained of being abandoned.

“We have been destroyed. Everything is gone in the flood,” said Haleema Bibi, 54, who fled her damaged home in Jhang with seven relatives. They now shelter under the open sky without tents or food.

“Whatever we had to eat has nearly finished. You can see how miserably we are living,” she told The Associated Press.

Allah Ditta, a farmer from the same district, said he and his neighbors slept on plastic sheets and carts. “Rescuers came once by boat, but no one has brought us supplies. We keep looking to the road, hoping someone will come with help,” he said.

Authorities in Punjab say they had set up more than 1,000 relief camps, but government figures show that only about 36,550 of over 800,000 evacuees are housed in them. It is unclear where the vast majority were staying.

Evacuations also took place in southern Sindh province, where Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah warned of a possible “super flood” of the Indus River if water levels top 900,000 cubic feet per second.

Officials blame the catastrophic flooding on weeks of heavier-than-normal monsoon rains, compounded by cross-border waters released from India’s swollen rivers and dams last week. The Ravi, Chenab and Sutlej rivers rose simultaneously, inundating wide swaths of farmland and villages.

India had alerted Pakistan about the water release, marking the rivals’ first public diplomatic contact since a military crisis brought them to the brink of war in May.

Punjab, home to some 150 million people and the country’s main wheat-growing region, has recorded 33 flood-related deaths in 10 days — far fewer than the catastrophic 2022 floods — but damage is widespread.

Pakistan’s weather center said Punjab received 26.5 percent more monsoon rainfall between July 1 and Aug. 27 compared with the same period last year. Nationwide, at least 854 people have died in rain-related incidents since late June.

Pakistan’s monsoon season typically lasts until the end of September.