PHNOM PENH, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia has reported 1,656 dengue fever cases in the first four months of 2016, a 168-percent rise from only 617 cases over the same period last year, according to the government's latest report on Saturday.

The incident rate was 10 cases out of 100,000 people, said the report posted to the website of National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control.

It added that the virus killed three children during the January-April period this year, up from only one death over the same period last year.

"Though the number of cases has increased this year, the situation of dengue fever in Cambodia is at a controllable level," the center's director, Huy Rekol, said in the report.

He added that more than 71 percent of the patients were children aged between 5 and 14 years old.

Dengue fever is a viral disease transmitted through the bite of an Aedes mosquito which is a day-biting mosquito. Its symptoms include sudden onset of high fever which can last from 3 to 7 days, severe headache, muscle pain, vomiting, and rash.