UN sounds alarm over first polio case in Gaza

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00:00In Deir el-Bala and elsewhere in the Gaza Strip, sewage has overwhelmed the streets

00:05after months of heavy bombardments. Sewage in which the poliovirus was detected in July

00:11and now the disease has been found in a 10-month-old baby.

00:16Having one case means that the virus is present in the Gaza Strip

00:20and we can confirm there may be infected people not yet detected.

00:24We are talking about an epidemic. This virus will not just stay in the Gaza Strip

00:28nor just in the West Bank or Palestine. It will spread to neighbouring countries,

00:32the region and the whole world.

00:36For the international community, it's time to act.

00:40Polio can cause irreversible paralysis in a matter of hours.

00:44It has been 25 years since polio was last detected in the Gaza Strip

00:48and the United Nations has sounded the alarm.

00:51Let's be clear, the ultimate vaccine for polio is peace and an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

00:59But in any case, a polio pause is a must.

01:04It is impossible to conduct a polio vaccination campaign with war raging all over.

01:11The World Health Organisation and UNICEF have also previously called for a seven-day

01:15humanitarian pause in order to vaccinate 640,000 children under the age of 10.

01:22More than 1.6 million doses are due to be delivered to Gaza by the end of August

01:26but these vaccination campaigns require considerable logistics.

01:31Medical teams need money, fuel to get around and functioning internet to warn the population.

01:38But the Israeli army controls all the entrances to the Gaza Strip

01:42and only a handful of aid workers are still able to enter the territory.

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