BEIJING - China turned its attention to halting the spread of disease on Friday as flood waters began to recede in parts of the south after storms this week which killed dozens and made hundreds of thousands homeless.

State media said four more people had been killed in Guangxi and two had died in the neighbouring province of Guangdong. The Ministry of Civil Affairs that as of Tuesday 76 are known to have died. It has not updated the death toll since.

Health authorities in the mountainous county of Fengshun in Guangdong were working all out to prevent the spread of disease.

"As the floods are decreasing, it is of great importance for us to increase efforts on disease control and health care," Zeng Qingzhu, director of the Fengshun Health Bureau, was quoted as saying.

Cholera, typhoid fever and diarrhoea can spread easily in flood zones.

Heavy rain swamped south China on Thursday, bringing new misery for hundreds of thousands of villagers already made homeless.