The World Health Organization (WHO) has kept Pakistan and Afghanistan among the countries with the potential risk of international spread of poliovirus.

As such, the travel restrictions for Pakistan have been extended by another three months.

The WHO held the 69th Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) on the international spread of poliovirus on August 16.

During the meeting, it was said that Pakistan recorded the most recent detection of the virus on July 17.

“The committee noted that there has been one new case of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in Pakistan since the last meeting, bringing the total to two in 2023. Both cases occurred in Bannu district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province,” the WHO said in a statement.

There have been 15 environmental surveillance-positive samples in 2023. Although the action plan in southern KP has resulted in 160,000 more children being vaccinated, the context remains challenging in the country, it added.

“The programme continues to miss a large number of children. Except for south KP, the historic reservoirs in Pakistan are no longer endemic, but recent positive environmental samples in Peshawar and Karachi underline that the risk of an outbreak continue,” it stated.

WHO’s International Travel and Health recommends that all travellers to polio-affected areas be fully vaccinated against polio. Residents (and visitors for more than 4 weeks) from infected areas should receive an additional dose of OPV or inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) within 4 weeks to 12 months of travel.