Tonga has 15 new dengue fever cases confirmed through rapid tests. The latest Situation Report today brings the total cumulative number of cases to 697, since tracking began in February.

Tongatapu has 331 cases, Vava’u 305, ‘Eua 59, and Ha'apai two cases.

Currently, eight people are hospitalized in Vaiola, one in Prince Ngu, and one in Niu;eiki. They are all in stable condition, Ministry of Health (MOH) stated.

Dengue Virus Type 2 (DENV-2) is the responsible virus for this current outbreak in Tonga.

"More blood specimen were sent to VDRL laboratory in Australia for serotyping pending results," the Ministry of Health stated today.

Three dengue-related deaths have been reported to date. No further deaths were reported as of today.

The age group mostly affected is 10-19 years old. The youngest age affected is a two months old baby.

Response activities

There is ongoing case investigation and vector control to hot spot and high risk areas, carried out by the Ministry, supported by communities, government ministries, NGOs, and stakeholders, as well as continuous technical support  from WHO and UNICEF.

MOH urges people to continue to clean up and destroy mosquito breeding sites around the home and schools.