The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH) has confirmed a new case of wild poliovirus in District Diamer, Gilgit-Baltistan.
This is the first case of wild polio virus reported from Gilgit-Baltistan and the eleventh confirmed case in Pakistan this year.
The third nationwide polio vaccination campaign of 2025, which began on 26 May, concluded on Sunday.
The campaign successfully reached over 45 million children under five years of age across 159 districts, including high-risk areas of the country.
Polio is a highly infectious and debilitating disease with no cure. The only way to protect children is through repeated doses of the oral polio vaccine for all children under five as well as the timely completion of all vaccines offered as part of the essential immunization schedule.
The Programme is calling on all parents to ensure their children do not miss out on any opportunity to receive polio drops.
Every dose of polio vaccine provides an opportunity to further strengthen immunity and protection against lifelong paralysis. With polio still a threat, community support is vital-no child should be missed.
Separately, an anti-polio team escaped unhurt in a gun attack by unidentified persons in the Diamer district of Gilgit Baltistan on Monday.
A polio monitoring team came under the attack in the Tangir Sheikhu area, which was noticed by the GB chief minister Haji Gulbar Khan, said Spokesperson Faizullah Faraq. The official said the four-member polio team visited the area without informing the local authorities.
The incident occurred due to the presence of women in the area, he said, stressing the polio team should have alerted the local administration before the visit so that staff security could be stepped up. He said the monitoring team – including zonal in-charge Bilal, Kainat, Adnan and Iqbal – were shifted to a safe place.
Police have registered a case and launched an investigation. The government would continue the ongoing polio campaign with stepped-up security, Faiz said. Earlier in the day, the National Institute of Health confirmed the first-ever polio case from the same district of Gilgit-Baltistan, suggesting that the virus is spreading in Pakistan.