HARARE, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- The Zimbabwean government on Friday declared a polio outbreak in the country and announced a rollout of vaccinations starting Feb. 20.
Deputy Minister of Health and Child Care Sleiman Kwidini made the announcement at a media briefing and urged the public not to panic as the government has taken swift action to contain the outbreak.
He said his ministry has done laboratory tests and confirmed the presence of a Type 2 circulating poliovirus variant in environmental samples that were collected toward the end of 2023 from some sewage sites in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. A similar variant was also detected in a 10-year-old child in another province.
In both cases, the virus was a rare type that could occur when the weakened live virus in the oral polio vaccine mutated over time and became able to circulate in the community, he said.
"The detection of these viruses in the environment or in humans constitutes a polio outbreak in the country. While the news is concerning, we as a ministry would like to reassure the public that we have taken swift action to investigate and contain the outbreak to prevent any further spread that may occur," he said.
Kwidini said two rounds of polio vaccinations targeting children below 10 years of age have been scheduled for February and March, with the first round taking place between Feb. 20 and March 1, and the second between March 19 and 29.
"Given the contagious nature of circulating polioviruses and their capacity to evolve over time to a type that causes serious disease and debilitating paralysis, the ministry strongly encourages all parents and caregivers of children to ensure that all children below 10 years of age are vaccinated against polio and protected," he said.
The minister said several other countries in the region, including Botswana, Zambia, Burundi, Rwanda, Malawi, and Mozambique, have also been affected and are working with Zimbabwe in a bid to control the outbreak. ■