"Despite our high standards of public health, Singapore is experiencing its worst ever outbreak of dengue fever, at least since the 1980s," Yaacob Ibrahim, the minister for the environment and water resources, told parliament.

The deaths so far this year remained at eight, the same level as for all of 2004, after the release of the latest statistics. In the week ending Saturday, there were 697 new cases, a new high for a single week, Yaacob said.

Singapore has 4.2 million people packed densely into an island better known for its modern sanitation than diseases associated with poor countries.

Yaacob said "there is a resurgence of dengue worldwide in the tropics, and many countries in Southeast Asia including Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam have reported much higher levels of the disease in 2005."

Puzzled by the local outbreak, the Singapore government has engaged foreign and local experts to study the sudden upsurge and and advise it on the best strategy to deal with the problem.

Yaacob appealed to Singaporeans to rid their homes of breeding spots for the Aedes mosquito which carries the dengue virus, and to isolate dengue patients from mosquitoes which can re-transmit the disease to other people.

The government has set aside S$30 million (US$18 million) to fight dengue and carried out a "carpet-combing blitz" against potential mosquito breeding areas since last weekend.

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