Palestinian Health Ministry in Ramallah has recorded the first case of polio in the Gaza Strip.
The Health Ministry had made this announcement on Friday, saying that the infected individual (first case) had been an unvaccinated, 10-month-old infant in Deir al-Balah in the center of the area.
Further tests in the Jordanian capital, Amman, have purportedly confirmed this, according to the ministry.
The UN Secretary-General, António Guterres had previously, called for a halt in the hostilities in the isolated and largely wrecked coastal strip to allow for the polio vaccination of hundreds of thousands of children.
Following this development, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the UN children’s agency UNICEF have pushed for a seven-day ceasefire.
After the realisation of polioviruses in the sewage of the Gaza Strip in July, the UN has made plans fo mass vaccinations against polio.
At the end of August and in September, over 640,000 children 10 years and above are to be protected against the virus in two vaccination rounds, the WHO said in Geneva.
Meanwhile, the UN health agency had earlier reported that the three children in the Gaza Strip were suspected of having acute paralysis symptoms typical of polio.
Polio is a contagious infectious disease that can cause permanent paralysis and death, particularly in young children.
The virus is most times, spread through contaminated water.
