WHO, UNICEF declare end of polio outbreak in the Philippines

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Two U.N. agencies have declared the end of a polio outbreak in the Philippines and praised the government’s efforts to continue fighting the disease despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Health Organization and UNICEF say the government concluded its response to the polio outbreak on June 3 after no cases were detected for 16 months following a massive immunization campaign and surveillance. Philippine health officials announced that polio had re-emerged in the country in 2019, nearly two decades after the WHO had declared the Southeast Asian nation to be free of the viral disease, which can cause paralysis and death.