Four new polio cases have been detected in the country, bringing the country’s total tally to 63 this year despite repeated countrywide campaigns against the crippling disease, government data showed on Friday.

Pakistan is one of the last two countries in the world, alongside Afghanistan, where polio remains endemic, with the disease mostly affecting children under five, and sometimes causing lifelong paralysis. Despite global efforts to eradicate the virus, challenges such as security issues, vaccine hesitancy, and misinformation have slowed progress.

Of the four cases, two were found in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while the remaining two were detected in Sindh, according to a statement from the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC).

“On Friday, December 13, the lab confirmed one polio case each from DI Khan, Tank, and Jacobabad, where female children are affected, and Sukkur, where a male child is affected,” the statement said.

“This is the ninth polio case from DI Khan, third from Tank, third from Jacobabad, and first from Sukkur this year.”

Of the 63 cases reported so far this year, 26 were from Balochistan, 18 from KP, 17 from Sindh and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.

Poliovirus spreads in the warm season and becomes less active in the cold season. The period from May to September is called high transmission season for the virus.

NEOC stressed that the Pakistan Polio Programme conducts multiple mass vaccination drives in a year, bringing the vaccine to children at their doorsteps.

“It is crucial for parents to ensure vaccination for all their children under the age of five to keep them protected,” it said.

The statement also underscored that a large-scale polio vaccination campaign was going to begin in the country starting from December 16 to December 22 during which vaccinators would go door-to-door to immunise more than 44 million children under five in 143 districts against polio.

“To keep children safe, it is critical for parents to welcome vaccinators among them and bring their children forward for vaccination,” the press release reads.