Around 15 patients at Mount Carmel Hospital have been diagnosed with scabies, the health authorities said.

They said all the necessary precautions were being taken to control the outbreak and avoid it from spreading.

Scabies is a skin infection that occurs among humans and other animals.

The mites that cause it burrow into the skin and deposit their eggs, forming a burrow that looks like a pencil mark. Eggs mature in 21 days. The itchy rash is an allergic response to the mite.

Scabies is spread by direct contact with infected people, and less often by sharing clothing or bedding.