Ayadil Saparbekov, WHO’s health emergency officer in the occupied Palestinian territories, made assessments regarding the risk of a polio outbreak in Gaza. “I am extremely concerned about the possibility of an outbreak in Gaza,” Saparbekov said at a UN press briefing in Geneva.
Saparbekov said there have been no confirmed cases of the disease since polio type 2 virus was detected in samples collected from wastewater in Gaza.
Saparbekov stated that WHO and UNICEF will send 50 polio kits to Gaza on Thursday to determine whether there is an epidemic, and emphasized that the tests will be sent to Jordan.
Ayadil Saparbekov stressed that he is concerned not only about the polio epidemic but also about the possible outbreaks of other infectious diseases in Gaza.
In the past, the virus was detected in the cities of Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah
Last weekend, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that type 2 poliovirus had been detected in the cities of Khan Younis in the south of the Gaza Strip and Deir al-Balah in the central part.
Ghebreyesus noted that type 2 polio virus was detected in 6 samples taken from Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah.
