PESHAWAR: Pakistan reported the eighth case of poliovirus on Saturday after a 20-month-old child was left paralyzed by the crippling disease in North Waziristan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Earlier, all seven cases of the virus in 2022 had been reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, according to the Emergency Operation Centre (EOC).

The affected child was not vaccinated with basic jabs against the virus, said the EOC. He was only inoculated with polio drops a few times during the massive anti-polio campaigns held in the province.

Recently, the government conducted a five-day nationwide anti-polio drive to vaccinate over 43.3 million children under the age of five to end the crippling virus.

Pakistan remained polio-free for at least 15 months as the last case of the virus was confirmed from Balochistan’s Killa Abdullah on January 27 in 2021 - the only case of polio in the last year.

In April 2022, the first case of polio rang alarm bells as it set back Pakistan’s goal to eradicate the virus from the country and remain polio-free.

Earlier, the KP’s EOS confirmed that families had not immunized children against polio during the campaigns instead they used fake finger markings with the help of volunteer polio workers.

KP has 18 high-risk union councils which are comprised of dense, underserved population groups with poor levels of immunization against polio, according to the Pakistan Polio Eradication Programme’s assessment.