The World Health Organization (WHO) has decided to extend travel restrictions on Pakistan for another three months due to concerns over polio, ARY News reported.
The decision was taken during the WHO Emergency Committee’s 41st meeting held on March 6. Authorities from polio-affected countries attended the meeting virtually. The committee reviewed the global spread of polio, the situation in Pakistan, and the government’s efforts to control the spread of the virus.
Pakistan has seen a sharp uptick in the number of polio infections in the past few months. The country reported a 12-fold rise in cases reported between 2023 and 2024. In the last four months, as many as 628 polio-positive environmental samples have been reported in Pakistan. So far, six confirmed polio cases have been reported in Pakistan in 2025. Last year, 74 polio cases were reported in Pakistan.
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The active circulation of the YB3A4A B-cluster of the poliovirus in Pakistan, especially in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, and Balochistan provinces, remains a concern. Karachi, Peshawar, and Quetta have become hotspots for the wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1), which continues to spread in central parts of Pakistan and southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
While expressing satisfaction with Pakistan’s anti-polio initiatives, the commitee stressed that there is still room for improvement at the provincial and district levels, ARY News reported. It raised questions over the immunization standards and has called on Pakistan to ensure effective campaigns in vulnerable regions and counter cross-border transmissions.
The committee highlighted that Pakistan and Afghanistan are the countries that continue to pose a threat to polio eradication efforts being made globally.
