The number of polio cases recorded in Pakistan has leapt to its highest level in 14 years after attacks on immunisation teams led to a surge in incidences of the disease, health authorities said. "We have recorded 15 fresh cases of polio in last two days, the number of polio cases has reached 202 for this year," a senior official at the Pakistan National Institute of Health in Islamabad told AFP on Friday, adding that the annual tally had surpassed the previous record of 199 cases in 2000.
A WHO official in Islamabad confirmed the number of polio cases recorded. Saira Afzal Tarar, deputy minister for health, said the fresh cases came from the areas where "polio teams received threats".
"All these cases were recorded in the areas where we have security problems," Tarar told private TV channel. Pakistan is one of only three countries in the world where polio remains endemic but efforts to stamp it out have been badly hit in recent years by attacks on immunisation teams.