Pakistan Confirms Three New Polio Cases

Pakistan has recorded three confirmed cases of wild poliovirus so far in 2026, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. Two of the cases occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. On April 14, gunmen attacked a police vehicle escorting polio vaccinators in Hangu district, killing one officer and wounding four others.

The incident took place during the second phase of a nationwide immunization campaign.

Pakistan recorded 1,139 terrorism deaths in 2025, the highest annual total since 2013. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces accounted for the majority of both militant attacks and recent polio cases. Government data since 2012 show 96 deaths and 170 injuries from attacks on polio campaigns, including 61 police officers and 27 health workers.

Genetic sequencing by the World Health Organization has linked virus samples from Karachi to reservoirs in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. The same genetic cluster has been identified on both sides of the Chaman border crossing between Quetta and Kandahar. Wild poliovirus has also been detected in wastewater samples in Germany.

The WHO Polio Emergency Committee has described the first half of 2026 as a critical period to interrupt transmission. Pakistani officials state that more than 200 polio workers and escorts have been killed since the 1990s. TTP has banned door-to-door vaccination in areas under its influence.