There are confirmed reports that a number of prisoners at the lock-up at the Half-Way-Tree Police Station have tested positive for chickenpox.
At least one policeman based at the lock-up has also contracted the virus which causes chickenpox.
But the police say reports of an outbreak are exaggerated as the number of confirmed cases is fewer than 10, which is the point at which the Ministry of Health qualifies it as an outbreak.
“By health definitions, they are experiencing a cycle at the lock-up,” one source told the Observer as he admitted that the cases have been confirmed.
“Persons from the health ministry have visited the lock-up and they are doing some work to contain the spread,” added the source, saying detainees who tested positive have been isolated from the rest of prisoners.
Chickenpox is an infection caused by the varicella-zoster virus.
It causes an itchy rash with small, fluid-filled blisters and is highly contagious to people who have not had the disease, or who were not vaccinated against it.
