The World Health Organization has expressed deep concern over the confirmation of a polio case in an infant in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, the first case in Gaza in 25 years.

WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a press statement today, Saturday, that WHO and its partners worked urgently to collect samples from the child and transport them to a WHO-accredited laboratory in the region, where genetic sequencing confirmed that the virus is linked to the type 2 variant of poliovirus that was discovered in sewage samples in Gaza last June.

Tedros confirmed that the 10-month-old infant was paralyzed in the lower part of his left leg and is currently in stable condition. He indicated that due to the high risk of the spread of the polio virus in Gaza and the region, the Palestinian Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization and UNICEF are working to implement two rounds of polio vaccination in the coming weeks, to stop the transmission of the infection.