Pakistan Reports Ninth Polio Case of 2026 as Virus Traced to Afghanistan — PM Orders National Plan in a Week

Pakistan has confirmed its ninth polio case of 2026, a seven-month-old boy from Khyber district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered a coordinated national plan to be drawn up within a week.

The case was confirmed on Thursday, 5 November, by the Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication in Islamabad, and announced by the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) for Polio Eradication. Health officials say the virus found in the child is genetically linked to strains circulating in Afghanistan, a fresh reminder that the disease does not respect borders.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where wild poliovirus has never been stopped. The World Health Organization treats the two countries as a single epidemiological block, because an outbreak in one puts children in the other at risk too.

What happened

The infected child is a seven-month-old boy from Mastak Union Council in Bara tehsil, Khyber district. This is the third polio case reported from Khyber district this year, and the seventh from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province overall.

The other two cases recorded in Pakistan this year are from Sindh — one in Karachi East and one in Sujawal. Within Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the seven cases break down as three in Khyber district, three in Bannu and one in North Waziristan.

The latest case came just days after the eighth case of the year was confirmed — a 13-month-old girl, also from Bara tehsil in Khyber district. Two cases from the same area in the same week tell health officials that the virus is still moving around in the community, even though the overall number of cases has fallen sharply.

Genetic testing has now shown that the poliovirus found in all three cases from Khyber district this year is linked to strains circulating in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is facing a serious outbreak of its own, with 50 cases reported in 2026. People move back and forth across the Pakistan-Afghanistan border every day, and the virus travels with them.

The numbers are falling — but the virus is still there

On the surface, the trend looks encouraging. Pakistan reported 74 polio cases in 2024 and 31 in 2025. Nine cases so far in 2026 is a big improvement on both years.

But health officials warn against reading too much into the falling count. The virus is still being found in children and in sewage samples, which means it is still circulating even when it does not make a child ill. Most people infected with poliovirus show no symptoms at all, yet they can still pass it on to others. That is what makes the disease so hard to wipe out: the virus can travel silently through a community until it reaches a child who has not been vaccinated.

Polio mainly affects children under five. In a small number of cases it attacks the nervous system and causes paralysis, which cannot be cured. The only protection is the vaccine, given as drops in the mouth, which is why vaccination teams go door to door in every campaign.

Prime Minister orders a plan within a week

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took up the issue at a review meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office on Thursday, the same day the ninth case was confirmed. He directed federal health officials and the national polio team to prepare a coordinated strategy and plan within seven days.

The plan is to be drawn up after visiting all four provinces and consulting the chief ministers and chief secretaries, so that the federal government and the provinces act together rather than in isolation. The aim is to close the gaps that let the virus survive: children missed by vaccination teams, hard-to-reach communities, and areas where security problems make door-to-door campaigns difficult.

A vaccination drive is already under way

The ninth case was confirmed in the middle of a nationwide vaccination drive running from 2 to 8 November. The campaign targets around 24 million children under five across 97 high-risk districts throughout the country, and a similar campaign is running at the same time in Afghanistan.

Khyber district is one of the districts covered by the drive. The timing is no accident: health teams try to vaccinate as many children as possible as quickly as possible whenever a case is found, to build a wall of immunity around the virus before it can spread further.

Pakistan has run these campaigns for decades, and they have brought the country close to wiping out the disease several times. Each time, the virus has survived in a small number of areas — mainly in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, and in Karachi — and then spread back out again.

The teams doing the work are under attack

The latest case also comes during one of the most violent weeks the polio programme has faced in some time. On Tuesday, 3 November, gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire on a police car in Mohmand district, killing two police officers who were protecting polio vaccination teams. A day earlier, four polio workers were abducted in Tank district.

The attacks coincided with the launch of the vaccination drive on Sunday, 2 November. Polio workers and the police officers who guard them have been targeted for years by militants who oppose the vaccination programme, and the violence makes it harder to reach children in exactly the areas where the virus is strongest.

Despite the danger, the campaign is continuing. Health officials say stopping the drive would hand the virus exactly what it needs: unvaccinated children.

Why the Afghanistan link matters

The genetic link to Afghanistan is the most important detail in the ninth case. It shows that Pakistan cannot end polio on its own. As long as the virus circulates freely across the border, a single infected traveller can restart transmission in a Pakistani community where vaccination coverage has a gap.

That is why the WHO treats Pakistan and Afghanistan as one epidemiological zone, and why the two countries run their vaccination campaigns at the same time. The idea is simple: if both sides vaccinate their children in the same week, the virus has nowhere to hide. When one side lags behind, the other side stays at risk.

Afghanistan’s 50 cases this year are a warning sign. Its outbreak is far larger than Pakistan’s, and the virus strains found in Khyber district match the strains spreading there. Until Afghanistan brings its own outbreak under control, Pakistan’s border districts will remain exposed.

What happens next

Three things will decide whether the ninth case is a warning or the start of a new surge.

First, the national plan the Prime Minister has ordered. If it is delivered within the week and backed by the provinces, it could tighten coordination between the federal programme and the provincial teams who do the work on the ground.

Second, the current vaccination drive. Its success will be measured not by how many children are reached in total, but by whether it reaches the children who are usually missed — in remote villages, in families that refuse the vaccine, and in areas where security problems keep teams away.

Third, security for the vaccination teams. The killings in Mohmand district are a reminder that the polio programme is not only a health campaign. It depends on police officers who put their lives at risk to protect health workers, and on communities that trust the teams who knock on their doors.

Frequently asked questions

What is polio?

Polio is a disease caused by the poliovirus. It spreads mainly through contaminated water and food, and it mostly affects children under five. Most people who catch it have no symptoms, but in a small number of cases the virus attacks the nervous system and causes paralysis. There is no cure, but the vaccine prevents it.

How many polio cases has Pakistan had in 2026?

Nine so far. Seven are from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — three in Khyber district, three in Bannu and one in North Waziristan — and two are from Sindh, in Karachi East and Sujawal.

Why is the virus still in Pakistan?

The virus survives in areas where some children are missed by vaccination campaigns, and it crosses the border from Afghanistan, where 50 cases have been reported this year. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last two countries in the world where wild poliovirus has not been stopped.

Is the polio vaccine safe?

Yes. The oral polio vaccine has been used around the world for decades and has protected hundreds of millions of children. It is given as two drops in the mouth and is free in Pakistan’s vaccination campaigns.

What should parents do?

Parents should make sure their children under five receive the polio drops every time vaccination teams visit, even if the child has been vaccinated before. Each round of drops strengthens the child’s protection.

Conclusion

Nine cases is a long way from 74. Pakistan’s polio programme has made real progress, and the falling numbers show that the vaccine works when it reaches children. But the ninth case, in a seven-month-old baby in Khyber district, shows how fragile that progress is. The virus is still circulating, it is still crossing the border from Afghanistan, and the people carrying the vaccine to children’s doors are still being attacked for doing it.

The Prime Minister’s order for a national plan within a week is a welcome response. The test now is whether the plan reaches the children the virus is counting on: the ones in remote villages, the ones in insecure districts, and the ones whose parents have not yet been convinced. Until every child is vaccinated, the virus will keep finding its way back.

Sources

• Dawn (via ANI / Devdiscourse), “Pakistan reports ninth polio case from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa” — https://www.devdiscourse.com/article/international/4002614-pakistan-reports-ninth-polio-case-from-khyber-pakhtunkhwa
• Abb Takk, “Pakistan records ninth polio case of 2026 amid cross-border concerns” — https://abbtakk.tv/pakistan-records-ninth-polio-case-of-2026-amid-cross-border-concerns/
• Probes Pakistan, “Pakistan reports ninth polio case as virus linked to Afghanistan” — https://www.probespakistan.com/article/pakistan-reports-ninth-polio-case-as-virus-linked-to-afghanistan
• Khabr, “Pakistan ninth polio case 2026 Khyber district” — https://khabr.pk/en/news/pakistan-ninth-polio-case-2026-khyber-district
• Outbreak News Today, “Polio: 9th case confirmed in Pakistan” — https://outbreaknewstoday.substack.com/p/polio-9th-case-confirmed-in-pakistan
• Al Jazeera, “Two police officers protecting polio workers in Pakistan shot dead”, 3 November 2026 — https://aljazeeranews-3fuh52rgrl.edgeone.app/news/2026/11/3/two-police-officers-protecting-polio-workers-in-pakistan-shot-dead

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.