SUVA, March 9 (Xinhua) -- Three children have died from viral pneumonia caused by an Influenza B outbreak in Tonga, a South Pacific island nation with a population of more than 100,000.

According to Matangi Tonga Online news website on Thursday, Siale 'Akau'ola, chief executive officer of Tonga's Health Ministry, said that three children aged one to 13 died during the outbreak of the influenza-like illnesses, which have been going on in the island nation for last eight to nine weeks.

He confirmed that incidences have been monitored at 10 surveillance sites throughout the island nation, and a trend of new cases appeared to have peaked on week eight of the outbreak, with an average of 30 cases per day with a total of about 180 cases per week.

Travel restrictions from 2020-2022 have prevented the usual annual influenza-like illnesses outbreaks in Tonga.

It's believed that the main reason behind the significant surge and the severity of consequences may be due to a long pause period, when there had no outbreak of Influenza-like illnesses in the island nation for about three years, he said.

Tonga is still working with the World Health Organization to work out the impact of these major/unexpected adverse events and to plan a strategy to prevent them from happening again in the future, he added.

The health ministry has urged the public to take precautionary measures during this flu season. Enditem

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