Sunday, November 27 2005 14:26 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Millions of children in the high-risk areas of northern India, including the capital, were administered polio drops today (Nov 27,2005).

The vaccination drive was carried out in the whole of UP, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, four districts of Uttaranchal, and two districts of Haryana, officials said.

Immunisation was also undertaken in some pockets of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, they said.

The aim is not to leave even a single child under five years of age unimmunised, they said.

Another round will be carried out in January and February in the high risk areas while in April and May immunisation rounds covering the whole of India would be undertaken, they said.

As against 1600 cases in 2002, only 134 cases were detected in 2004. There has been 92 per cent decline in polio cases recorded between 2002 and 2004.

The geographical spread of the virus has declined from 159 districts in 2002 to 87 in 2003. By the last year, the virus was restrained to only 43 districts mainly in western Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.