Poliovirus was detected in the sewage water, in Pakistan’s east Rawalpindi district, during a sampling process, the district health authority said, yesterday.

The sample was collected on Aug 10, in the district, located in the country’s east Punjab province, where sewage sampling is done on a monthly basis, the health authority said.

The recently detected virus was found to be genetically linked to the YB3A cluster, which is active in Nangarhar, Afghanistan, the health authority said.

Earlier, on Aug 30, poliovirus originating from Afghanistan was detected in the sewage system in Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab.

Punjab is planning a new campaign in both Rawalpindi and Lahore from tomorrow, to respond to the positive environmental samples in both cities.

In the five-day anti-polio drive, 800,000 children will be administered vaccine across Rawalpindi, with a particular focus on the areas from where the virus was found

Source: Nam News Network