Polio this week – GPEI
Polio this week

Headlines 

  • Poliovirus detections in Europe – urgent action needed to keep Europe polio-free.  Click here for an editorial by Pamela Rendi-Wagner, Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, on the recent detections of poliovirus which highlight the ongoing risk of polio resurgence anywhere.
  • The WHO Executive Board is taking place this week in Geneva.  The GPEI has finalized a report on polio eradication, which will help inform Member State discussions.  The report provides an update on work towards fully implementing and financing the Polio Eradication Strategy and the Polio Transition Framework, to achieve eradication and prepare for a lasting polio-free world.  The report is available here.

Summary of new polioviruses this week, cases and positive environmental isolates:

  • Pakistan:  39 WPV1-positive environmental samples
  • Algeria:  one cVDPV2-positive environmental sample
Country updates as of 05 February 2025

More information on the countries that have reported cases and/or environmental samples this week.

  • No WPV1 case was reported this week. The total number of cases for 2024 is 73.  The total number of cases in 2025 is one.
  • 39 WPV1-positive environmental samples were reported this week, collected in January, from Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh.

  • One cVDPV2-positive environmental sample was reported this week, from Tamanghasset, collected on 29 December.