As the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared India polio-free, the Odisha Government on Sunday claimed that it has achieved zero-polio status for fours year on the trot.

Marking the pulse polio immunisation drive, Health Minister Prasanna Acharya said although the State has achieved the zero-polio status for four consecutive years, maintaining it during the years to come is a challenge. He urged families to take their children below five years for polio drop administration.

Acharya kicked off the immunisation drive from the health centre at Unit III. The drive will be conducted across 30 districts in 18,684 centres. The State Government targets to cover 46,56,254 children under the immunisation drive during the three-day period.

Last year, 46,05,670 children below five years were administered polio drops. For this year, the Health department and its allied agencies have deployed 37,368 squads comprising 74,737 workers and 3,737 supervisors.