Guinea-Bissau's health officials have said that the two-month-old cholera epidemic sweeping Guinea- Bissau has affected more than 7,600 people, killing nearly 150.

According to reports from Bissau, Health Minister Maria Odete Semedo said Thursday people "continue dying everyday, when we could avoid many deaths," acknowledging that her ministry alone did not have sufficient means to deal with the scourge and appealed for concerted government action.

The country's health officials said 283 new cholera cases and five deaths had been reported in the 24-hour period since Wednesday, raising the toll to 7,665 cases and 148 deaths.

The West African country had received medical aid since the epidemic broke out in mid-June, sweeping across seven of the country's nine administrative regions.

She told media the ministry did have the necessary "forces or powers" to enforce bans on street sales of food and beverages, one source of the highly contagious intestinal disease, illustrating " the difficulties" faced by the Health Ministry.

A chronic threat in country, the most deadly recent cholera epidemic struck some 50,000 people in 1995, claiming about 1,500 lives.

In this outbreak, the capital of the country, Bissau, was the hardest-hit zone "because there is more filth in the capital than in the interior," where many of the cases were contracted by people after visits to the city, according to reports.

Source: Xinhua