Children walk away from fumes of a sprayer in a residential colony in Delhi. (AP)

New Delhi, Oct. 3: Amid warnings that India could be headed for a resurgence of haemorrhagic dengue, Delhi today scrambled to check the outbreak with emergency blood camps, intensified fumigation and winter uniforms.

At least 11 people have died among 498 reported to be infected with the virus in the capital. Twelve deaths have been reported in Rajasthan and two in Uttar Pradesh.

Health minister Anbumani Ramadoss has called a meeting of health ministers of Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh on Thursday to discuss the outbreak.

The crisis emerging from a rising number of patients requiring transfusion and dwindling stocks of blood has forced the government to plead for blood through donation camps in community centres, schools and universities.

After an emergency meeting by Delhi health minister Yoganand Shastri, the government ordered schools to introduce winter uniform — full-sleeved shirts and long trousers — from tomorrow, a month earlier than usual.

But even before the circulars reached schools, principals complained that efforts were on to shift the focus from the administration’s failure to prevent the outbreak.

“Through this knee-jerk move, the government wants to shift responsibility for future infections among children on schools,” said Shyama Chona, principal of the Delhi Public School, R.K. Puram branch.

“Children are likely to find winter clothing uncomfortable during October,” said Jyoti Bose, principal of Springdales School.

Health experts said the dengue surge reflected the failure to control the population of the Aedes egypti mosquito, which breeds in water coolers, open tanks, unused tyres and disposable plastic cups.

The outbreak has jogged memories of the fiercest outbreak of dengue in the capital 10 years ago in which nearly 9,000 people had fallen sick and over 350 had died.

Doctors said that as in October 1996, this year, too, there appeared to be an increased proportion of haemorrhage, a rare complication of dengue that can cause people to bleed to death.

Virologists at the Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE) in Gwalior had warned this July that the emergence of multiple sub-types of the virus could increase the risk of dengue haemorrhage.

An AIIMS student had died last Saturday from haemorrhagic dengue. The institute’s authorities said 50 other patients have also shown symptoms of this complication.

A probe into the 1996 outbreak had shown that the type 2 dengue virus was predominant. By 2003, the type 3 virus had settled in Delhi. But over the past two years, research at AIIMS and DRDE has shown both sub-types co-existing in northern India.

AIIMS medical superintendent D.K. Sharma expressed helplessness in controlling the multiple strains. He said the institute had done all it could to control mosquito breeding.

“Since August, we have had nine rounds of fumigation and 12 rounds of door-to-door indoor spraying on the campus,” he said.

Researchers say this year’s outbreak exposes the gap between academic research and action by health authorities.