Kathmandu, December 28

Mexican authorities said that a shelter housing Central American migrants, sent to Mexico from United States, was temporary shut down due to an outbreak of chicken pox.

The shelter in the northern city of Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, run by Mexico's federal government, closed on Thursday after 72 people, including 69 children, were diagnosed with the virus, officials in Mexico's Chihuahua state said in a statement, as per Reuters.

Most people infected with chicken pox simply feel unwell — with symptoms including an itchy, blister-like rash, fever, headache and fatigue — but some develop serious complications.

The Ciudad Juarez facility, which houses nearly 800 people awaiting court dates in the United States, is part of a network of shelters in Mexico that the Trump administration has used to enforce its policy of sending mostly Central American migrants south of the border while their asylum cases are pending.

An official said the virus was spread by a Honduran girl returned to Mexico by the U.S. government under Washington's Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) policy, Mexico's El Diario newspaper reported.

Health officials in Chihuahua said the virus has been contained and fewer than 50 people remain ill. Many migrants are being vaccinated, particularly vulnerable populations such as children, the elderly, and those with chronic illnesses.

Hamro Doctor