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Fiji's Ministry of Health has confirmed a secondary school student in the Western Division on the main island of Viti Levu has died of dengue fever.
A medical team conducted its investigation and awareness at the deceased's school, Xavier College in Ba, and also at his home.
The ministry has been spraying adult mosquitoes on these premises, and conducting clean-ups and spraying in hotspot areas in Ba with 70 percent coverage, as well as disease investigations with 60 percent coverage.
FBC reported, that from January to 23 March, a total of 5128 cases of dengue fever had been reported nationwide.
The ministry declared a dengue outbreak in the Western Division in early February, with 200 cases recorded from the beginning of this year to that point.
On Tuesday, it said that dengue cases in the country continue to escalate, a message it has issued on social media several times over the last few days.
"The Ministry pleads with members of the public around Fiji to destroy mosquito breeding places and to clean up their compound and surroundings," it said.
Health teams have been raising awareness about leptospirosis, typhoid, and dengue, and clean-ups are being done.
A second student from Xavier College also died, but dengue fever has been ruled out as the cause, and the matter has been referred to the police.
Meanwhile in Tonga, cumulative cases of dengue have reached 445 as of Monday.
More than half of the cases are from Vava'u (246), followed by Tongatapu (149) and 'Eua (49). No deaths have been reported so far.
Ha'apai has also had its first case.
Tonga's Ministry of Health said they are responding with awareness programs, investigating cases and vector control to hotspots and high-risk areas.
Tonga declared an outbreak of the disease in mid-February.
The EU's European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said that, as of March, over 1.4 million dengue cases and over 400 dengue-related deaths have been reported from 53 countries and territories in the World Health Organisation regions of the Americas, South-East Asia and West Pacific Regions, in the Eastern Mediterranean WHO Region and in Africa.
