Health authorities in the Solomon Islands have identified the cause of a diarrhea outbreak which has so far claimed the lives of six children.
There are 1,700 confirmed cases across six provinces.
The chairperson of the ministry of health's emergency and operations committee says lab results just back from Australia and Fiji indicate the presence of rotavirus in all patient samples.
Chris Becha says a tailored response strategy is being finalised and will be made public tomorrow.
"We are activated and we already mobilised the committees. We are in touch with the provincial authorities. The plans were finalised and we are sourcing resources from WHO, UNICEF and also the Ministry of Health to support our activities to mitigate this outbreak."
Dr Becha says the strategy will have a major focus on public awareness, clinical treatment and logistics as well as special consideration on continuity of maternity support for mothers as bad weather in the country continues.