First case of polio reported in Gaza Strip

Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah has recorded the first case of polio in the Gaza Strip.

The Ministry made this announcement on Friday, saying that the infected individual is said to be an unvaccinated, 10-month-old infant in Deir al-Balah in the center of the area.

Tests in the Jordanian capital, Amman, have reportedly confirmed this, the ministry said.

UN Secretary-General, António Guterres had earlier called for a pause in hostilities in the isolated and largely destroyed coastal strip to allow for the polio vaccination of hundreds of thousands of children.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UN children’s agency UNICEF have pushed for a seven-day ceasefire for this purpose.

After the discovery of polioviruses in the sewage of the Gaza Strip in July, the UN plans mass vaccinations against polio.

At the end of August and in September, more than 640,000 children up to the age of 10 are to be protected against the virus in two vaccination rounds, the WHO announced in Geneva.

The UN health agency reported earlier that three children in the Gaza Strip are suspected of having acute paralysis symptoms typical of polio.

Polio is a contagious infectious disease that can cause permanent paralysis and death, especially in young children.

The virus is often spread through contaminated water.