Lahore's first polio patient this year dies during treatment

Lahore's first polio case for the year has died while undergoing treatment at Children Hospital on Tuesday.

The deceased was a 26-month-old boy, Muhammad Ali, from Ravi Town. He was first identified as a polio case on June 12, confirmed the Punjab Polio Programme head Sundus Irshad.

The child developed weakness in all four of his limbs. He was shifted to Children Hospital and had been undergoing treatment since then.

Irshad has said that the polio programme cannot confirm whether polio was the cause of death.

"We don't know about any underlying issues. We are still investigating," said Irshad.

Punjab has reported four polio cases this year, Sindh 20, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 21, Balochistan 14, while Islamabad, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan haven't reported any cases.

Polio immunisation campaigns across the country had been halted in late March because of the coronavirus pandemic. Small-scale vaccination drives will resume from July 20.