PHNOM PENH, July 9 (Xinhua) — Cambodia reported 3,125 dengue fever cases in the first six months of 2016, up 38 percent over the same period last year, according to the government's latest report on Saturday.

"The incident rate was 18.9 cases out of 100,000 people," said the report posted on the website of the National Center for Parasitology, Entomology and Malaria Control.

The virus killed six children during the January-June period, two less than the deaths over the same period last year, it said.

"The situation of dengue fever in Cambodia is at a controllable level," the center's director, Huy Rekol, said in the report. "This figure is still below the alarming line."

He said more than 71 percent of the patients were children aged between five 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 three to seven days, severe headache, muscle pain, vomiting and rash.

Last month, Health Minister Mam Bunheng warned of the virus outbreak in the rainy season from May to October and called on parents to have their children sleep under mosquito nets to prevent them from being bitten by mosquitoes.

He also appealed to households to fill in puddles around houses,  which are sources of mosquitoes.