Nearly 30 years after declaring Polio eradicated in Venezuela, the first case of the disease has been reported in the country as it reels from an economic crash crippling its healthcare system.

The case in the eastern state of Delta Amacuro was reported as basic vaccine coverage continued to fall amid the worsening political and economic crisis.

The news comes as the country faces an increase in other diseases, some also formerly eradicated, such as diphtheria, tuberculosis, measles, and malaria.

Polio, or poliomyelitis, can be a crippling childhood disease but is preventable through immunisation.

In Delta Amacuro, where the case was discovered, vaccine coverage only reached 67 per cent, according to a statement from a local watchdog group.

“The government is not approving the money for the vaccines,” said MP Manuela Bolivar, a member of the country’s opposition-controlled National Assembly who is studying the surge of infectious diseases.