ZAPOPAN, Mexico — The Mexican state of Jalisco on Thursday issued a health alert and mandated the use of face masks in schools as a measles outbreak hit the state capital, a key host city for the upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The measures come on the heels of an epidemiological alert issued by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) earlier this week over the spread of the preventable disease across the Americas, particularly in Mexico, which leads the region with 1,981 cases confirmed by authorities this year and more than 5,200 suspected cases.

Jalisco is the epicenter of the outbreak, with 1,163 cases confirmed this year and 2,092 suspected cases, according to Mexico’s government.

The measles outbreak in Mexico began last year in the northern state of Chihuahua, after a Mennonite child fell ill while visiting relatives in a region in Texas that was suffering an outbreak. Cases surged in Mennonite communities — which have high rates of vaccine hesitancy — and have rippled out across Mexico in the country’s biggest outbreak in decades. Scientists say rising outbreaks across the hemisphere are linked to declining vaccination rates.

Jalisco health authorities announced Thursday that masks will be required in Guadalajara schools across seven specific neighborhoods for the next 30 days.

Jalisco was the first Mexican state to take such measures as medical groups urged the local government to take urgent action, marking the country’s first such public health mandate since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Classes were also recently suspended in 15 schools in Jalisco and the central state of Aguascalientes due to outbreaks of the highly contagious airborne virus.

The outbreak comes as Mexico prepares to host visitors from across the world for the World Cup, which will be held simultaneously in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Guadalajara is one of the main venues in Mexico for the soccer tournament.

Canada lost its measles-free status in November and the U.S. and Mexico face the risk of meeting the same fate. Both governments have requested a two-month extension to try to control the outbreak, although in January the Trump administration withdrew from the World Health Organization, under whose umbrella PAHO operates.

In the first three weeks of this year, 1,031 additional measles cases were confirmed in seven countries in the Americas with no deaths reported — a figure 43 times higher than that recorded in the same period last year — PAHO said Wednesday in a statement.

The Mexican government has spent weeks encouraging the population to get vaccinated against the measles, which is preventable with two doses of the vaccine, and announced the launch of vaccination sites in places such as airports and bus stations.

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