Officials report case of polio in Gaza as UN appeals for ceasefire to roll out vaccines
Antonio Guterres says Gaza is in "humanitarian freefall" and calls for pause in fighting so aid agencies can deliver 1.6 million doses of the nOPV2 polio vaccine to the strip.
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00:00Palestinian health officials have reported the first case of polio in Gaza in an unvaccinated
00:0710-month-old child in the city of Deir al-Bala.
00:11After discovering the child's symptoms, tests were conducted in Jordan's capital, Amman,
00:16and the case was confirmed to be polio.
00:19It's the first case of the disease in at least 25 years in the coastal enclave, which has
00:24seen health and sanitation facilities devastated by the Israel-Hamas war.
00:31On Friday, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for seven-day pauses in fighting to
00:37allow agencies to roll out a vaccination campaign across the Strip.
00:42Two rounds of polio vaccinations are expected to be launched at the end of August and September
00:47across Gaza in a bid to prevent the spread of the disease.
00:52Over 1.6 million vaccine doses will be delivered to Gaza and vaccinations will be administered
00:57by 708 teams across the Strip.