Amid growing public alarm, the ministers of health, environment and national development and other top officials held a news conference to reassure Singaporeans the government was conducting an all-out anti-dengue campaign.

The health ministry said there were 9540 reported cases of dengue from January 1 to September 12, surpassing the 9459 cases reported for the whole of 2004.

With the number expected to rise, about 540 officers from the environment ministry and allied agencies will launch a house-to-house campaign this weekend and comb possible mosquito breeding nooks in four suburbs where most cases are reported.

Environment Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said the wealthy republic, better known overseas for its obsessive cleanliness, has earmarked S$30 million (US$18 million) to finance the fight and formed an international panel of scientists to advise the government.

"It is labelled as a search and destroy mission, sort of a carpet-combing exercise," Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan said.

"This is something we should not leave to chance ... It's a problem that we want to tackle seriously."

The dengue outbreak has plunged Singapore into its worst health crisis since the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome regional epidemic, which left 33 people dead and brought the travel-dependent economy to a crawl.

The ministers admitted being puzzled why dengue cases continue to rise in Singapore despite stringent measures to deny breeding places for the dengue-causing Aedes mosquito.

Mah said that while previous checks for mosquito breeding places had been thorough, there were areas which may have been overlooked.

To break the transmission chain, persons infected with dengue will be asked to apply mosquito repellent.

Senior Minister of State for Health Balaji Sadasivan said the recent resurgence of dengue cases had also affected other countries in the region.

Dengue cases are threatening to overwhelm public hospital wards, prompting health officials to urge Singaporeans to postpone non-critical surgery.

The last time non-urgent forms of surgery were delayed here was during the SARS crisis.

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