Three of the 99 influenza patients at a hospital in Machida have died, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government's public health bureau said Saturday.
The outbreak began around Jan. 6 and has infected 75 inpatients and 24 staff at Tsurukawa Sanatorium Hospital, according to the Bureau of Social Welfare and Public Health, which inspected the hospital and ordered it to take measures to half the infection.
The hospital said one of its staff was diagnosed with the flu on Jan. 3 and that it began spreading to patients in seven of the 11 wards around Jan. 6.
The three who died were women aged 77, 85 and 100, the hospital said.
Sixty-six of the 75 patients and 21 of the 24 staff have been vaccinated, but two of the three who died had also received vaccinations, the hospital said.
The hospital had 448 inpatients as of Saturday with an average age of 83, it said.
Of those who contracted the flu, 32 are running a fever but none are in serious condition, it said.
The head of the hospital, Ichiro Hino, held a news conference to apologize on Saturday night.
"We apologize for worrying you and for the troubles," Hino said.
The hospital was established in 1973 and specializes in internal medicine, elderly internal medicine and psychiatric treatment, mainly for dementia, according to its Web site.
The National Institute of Infectious Diseases warned of a flu epidemic in December.