Typhoon Morakot has killed two more people on the Chinese mainland, putting the total death toll at eight, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said on Tuesday.

The two new deaths were both reported in southeast China's Fujian Province. No details are currently available.

A total of six people - four in Zhejiang Province, one in Jiangxi Province and one in Fujian - had previously been reported killed by Morakot as of 7:00 PM on Monday. Another three people were reported missing.

The ministry said more than 11 million people in Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Anhui and Jiangsu provinces had been affected by Morakot since its powerful landing in East China on Sunday. Some 1.57 million had been relocated as of Tuesday.

It toppled more than 10,000 houses and inundated 449,600 hectares of farmland, the ministry said. Direct economic losses have amounted up to 9.7 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion), it added.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Morakot had moved into the Yellow Sea, and it would gradually become less threatening to coast provinces in East China, said the ministry.

(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2009)