MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani police arrested the key suspect in the gang rape of a woman polio worker who was assaulted by three men during last week’s vaccination campaign, officials said Wednesday. Two other suspects are still at large.

The assault on Thursday in Jacobabad, a district in the southern Sindh province, was one in a spate of attacks targeting polio vaccination teams going door to door in the campaign across Pakistan.

The woman who was attacked had alerted the authorities, saying she was raped by three men after going into a house in Jacobabad to administer polio drops to the children there, local police official Mohammad Saifal said.

The suspect, identified as Ahmad Jakhrani, was arrested overnight, Saifal added.

Police are still seeking the arrest of the two other men, accused of taking turns to assault the woman, Saifal said. A local police chief was fired for negligence following the attack, for failing to provide the polio worker with adequate security.

The attack shocked many Pakistanis as such sexual assaults are rare, though women polio workers have complained of harassment in the past during the campaigns. The provincial government in Sindh has said it would fully investigate the case.

Police also detained the husband of the attacked woman for kicking her out of their home and threatening to kill her after the assault over allegedly tarnishing the family’s honor by being raped.

So-called honor killings, in which women and girls are slain by their own relatives for allegedly dishonoring the family’s reputation, are still common in Pakistan.

Saifal also said police have been deployed to the house where the woman was now staying with her relatives for her protection.

Anti-polio campaigns in Pakistan are regularly marred by violence. Militants often target polio vaccination teams and police assigned to protect them, falsely claiming that the campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.

Since January, Pakistan has reported 17 new cases of polio, jeopardizing decades of efforts to eliminate the potentially fatal, paralyzing disease from the country. Polio often strikes children under age 5 and typically spreads through contaminated water.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in which the spread of polio has never been stopped. Pakistan’s government is planning another polio vaccination drive in October.

A new ‘stronger’ Covid variant is spreading across Europe and the world, as experts warn it is ‘just getting started’.

The XEC strain was first detected in Germany in June and has been identified in 15 countries across three continents.

According to experts, the strain could become the dominant variant within months when the weather gets cold.

Director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute in California Eric Topol said XEC is ‘just getting started now around the world and here’.

Speaking to the LA Times, he added: ‘And that’s going to take many weeks, a couple months, before it really takes hold and starts to cause a wave.

The XEC strain was first detected in Germany in June and has been identified in 15 countries across three continents. (Stock photo)

The XEC strain could become dominant within weeks or months when the weather gets colder

‘XEC is definitely taking charge. That does appear to be the next variant.

‘But it’s months off from getting into high levels.’

Regional chief of infectious diseases for Kaiser Permanente Southern California Dr Elizabeth Hudson said health experts will continue to monitor the variant in the coming weeks.

Dr Hudson said that XEC has been reported in western Europe including Germany and the Netherlands and it is spreading quickly.

XEC has shown up in the US but its prevalence is low so far.

The strain, which is a combination of the KS.1.1 and KP.3.3 variants, causes symptoms that are similar to those you experience with common illnesses such as flu and colds.

Most people will get better within a few weeks, but for others it could take longer to recover and some may even require hospitalisation.

Usual symptoms include a high temperature, continuous cough, loss of sense of taste or smell, shortness of breath and feeling tired or exhausted.

Also, usual cold-like symptoms such as a headache, a sore throat, a blocked or runny nose are common as well as a loss of appetite, diarrhoea, feeling sick or being sick

Usual symptoms include a high temperature, continuous cough, loss of sense of taste or smell. (Stock photo)

The XEC strain comes after health experts were warning about the FLiRT variant sweeping the UK

The arrival of XEC comes after warnings of the FLiRT variant sweeping across the UK in spring and summer this year.

FLiRT was used to describe a family of variants, KP.2, KP.3, JN.1.7, JN.1.1, and KP.1.1 which were all descendants of the JN.1 variant.

The UK’s latest figures show there has been a 4.3 per cent uptick in Covid cases week-on-week.

England also reported 102 deaths linked to Covid up until August 30.

During the same period, hospitals noted 1,465 Covid admissions.

But the UK Health Agency has not yet provided detailed data about the XEC variant.

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A Brazilian social media influencer has died following complications from a buttock augmentation surgery, (BBL) sparking concerns over the safety of such procedures in unlicensed clinics.
Aline Ferreira, 33, underwent the Brazilian butt lift (BBL) at the unlicensed Ame-se clinic in Goiânia on June 23.

According to preliminary reports, Ferreira fell into a coma and suffered cardiac arrests last Friday and Sunday, ultimately passing away on Tuesday
Her husband reported that she initially seemed to recover well and returned home to Brasília the same day.

However, her condition deteriorated the next day with a fever, followed by abdominal pain and fainting. She was subsequently hospitalized at Asa Norte Regional Hospital before being transferred to a private facility in Asa Sul.

“She returned to their home in Brasilia the day of the operation and was doing well. However, her medical condition began to worsen the next day when she had a fever” he said.

Ferreira’s family claims that the clinic owner, Grazielly da Silva, injected 30 ml of polymethyl methacrylate into each buttock. Da Silva, who was arrested Tuesday, denies these allegations, stating she only used a biostimulator and suggesting that the infection could have been due to the influencer’s home environment.

Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency advises that polymethyl methacrylate should be reserved for treating serious conditions like polio, where body deformities occur. The Goiás Civil Police have shut down Da Silva’s clinic for lacking proper health licensing and registration.

Ferreira is a mother of two, she was known for her fashion and travel content on social media.
Her death has prompted renewed scrutiny of cosmetic procedures performed in unauthorized facilities, especially as it concerns BBL.