KABUL — Six new cases of polio have been reported in Afghanistan, taking the number recorded in the country this year to 42, according to figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) reported by the United Nations and carried in a fresh Xinhua dispatch on Friday, October 23.
Source: Xinhua via EIN Presswire / TOLOnews
The six cases were identified in Kandahar, Nangarhar and Kabul provinces — three in Kandahar, two in Nangarhar's Batikot and Goshta districts, and one in Kabul's Musahi district — according to WHO reporting summarised by Tawazon and Atlas Press. WHO also reported a positive environmental sample in Kandahar, with the total of positive environmental samples in Afghanistan this year reaching 93, Tawazon said.
Source: WHO via Tawazon
By WHO figures cited in the same reporting, Pakistan has recorded six polio cases so far this year, while last year Pakistan reported 31 cases and Afghanistan 21. Afghanistan and Pakistan remain the only two countries in the world where wild poliovirus remains endemic. The report comes ahead of World Polio Day on October 24.
Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health has denied that these are confirmed positive cases, describing them instead as suspected cases, and said a special team travelled to the named provinces to verify the reports, according to Atlas Press reporting summarised by FluTrackers. Awaaz Punjab is therefore attributing the 42 total to WHO/GPEI, not presenting it as Kabul's confirmed figure.
Health specialists have linked the wider spread to gaps in vaccination coverage, including the shift away from house-to-house campaigns toward fixed sites such as mosques and community centres, and to population movement across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, according to UN analysis cited in regional reporting. Those are expert assessments, not a verdict on any single case in this week's count.
What is solid
- WHO/GPEI figures reported six new cases, taking Afghanistan's 2026 total to 42 — WHO via Tawazon and Xinhua, Oct 23
- Cases were reported in Kandahar, Nangarhar and Kabul provinces — WHO via Tawazon/Atlas Press
- Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only countries where wild poliovirus remains endemic — WHO
What is only claimed
- Whether the six are confirmed cases — Afghanistan's Ministry of Public Health calls them suspected and sent a verification team, per Atlas Press reporting
- Environmental-sample total of 93 for 2026 — attributed to WHO via Tawazon; not independently confirmed by Kabul