The Health Ministry is calling on parents to take every precaution during this rainy period to ensure that their children do not catch the flu.

Spokesperson, Iliesa Tora said this following revelation that Suva's CWM Hospital had a record 924 births for the month of March alone, adding that these new mothers should be careful as babies and new mothers are in the high risk group of contracting the seasonal flu.

According to Tora, new born babies do not have strong immune systems yet and parents need to be careful because if their health is not looked after then the flu could develop into pneumonia which is fatal at times.

CWM recorded the highest number of births for a single month at a single facility with 924 while Lautoka and Labasa averaged around 600 births while the normal average birth rate would be around 400 a month.