More polio cases reported in eastern Sudan’s Kassala

The government of Kassala in eastern Sudan has reported a number of polio cases in the state. As for the spread of COVID-19, the number of new patients decreased the last couple of days.

Confirmed and suspected polio cases were recorded in nine of Kassala’s 11 localities, the Secretary-General of the Kassala government, Arbab El Fadul, reported. In end August, the first polio case was reported in the eastern Sudanese state.

El Fadul announced a vaccination campaign “in all locations of the state in the near future until the disease is under control”.

The federal Ministry of Health declared an outbreak of polio in Sudan on August 9, after the first two cases of vaccine-derived polio type 2 were confirmed in South Darfur and in El Gedaref.

Five days later, the Health Ministry raised the highest alert after nine new cases of polio were reported in seven more states, including West Darfur, East Darfur, El Gezira, White Nile state, River Nile state, Khartoum, and Red Sea state.

At least 5.2 million children under the age of five live in the affected states and will require urgent vaccination, the UN office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Sudan stated on August 14.

Neighbouring Ethiopia, Central African Republic, and Chad also reported cases, which puts more risks on Sudan, especially in the Darfur region, due to border movements, OCHA said.

Coronavirus pandemic

The Ministry of Health of Khartoum state reported yesterday that no new COVID-19 cases was recorded in the hospitals.

The spread seems to slow down. As of 10 September, 46 new coronavirus patients were recorded in the country. The federal Health Ministry reported an increase of 16 cases by 11 September, and only three new patients, all in Khartoum, were registered in the next two day.

The total number of COVID-19 cases recorded since the virus entered Sudan in March reached 13,535 on September 13.

Khartoum state developed a plan to reduce the isolation centres in the state. The Director of the General Hospitals Administration, Emad Mamoun said the work in the remaining isolation centres will be improved.

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