OSAKA, Japan - Four elderly patients have died of gastroenteritis after a norovirus outbreak at a hospital in the western Japanese city of Kyoto, local press reported on Wednesday.

The four victims in their 80s and 90s were among 101 patients and staff members who have exhibited the virus-caused gastroenteritis symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea over the past five weeks at the hospital in Fushimi Ward of the city, the daily Mainichi Shimbun said, quoting city officials investigating the possibility of mass outbreaks of infectious gastroenteritis due to norovirus.

Since December last year, norovirus cases have been reported also in other places in Japan, and the health ministry now urges local governments to take further measures to prevent the infections from further spreading.

Local media reported that a total of 1,000 school children of 14 elementary schools fell ill in the central Japanese city of Hamamatsu, where norovirus was detected in three female employees at a company that supplied bread for these school meals.