By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

Just about a month after Africa was declared free of wild poliovirus, global wild poliovirus and circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus (cVDPV) continue to rise, according to the latest numbers from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI).

In Pakistan, two wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases were reported; one each in Balochistan and Sindh province, bringing the total for 2020 to 70 to date.

In Afghanistan, two wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases were reported; one each in Khost and Paktika provinces. There are now 46 WPV1 cases reported in 2020.

Afghanistan’s numbers are already higher than the 29 total seen in all of 2019.

In addition, 28 cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) were reported in Central Asia and Africa in the past week.

This includes 9 in Afghanistan, 7 in Pakistan, 9 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and one each in Somalia, Sudan and the Central African Republic.