Aid delivered by the UN and non-governmental groups has reached about 42 percent of 2.4 million affected people, most of whom live in the biggest city Yangon, said spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs.

However, she described delivery to the areas outside the capital, particularly in the Irrawaddy Delta, as a "logistic nightmare" where "some places are only reachable by inflatable boats."

Of the estimated 2 million people living in the 15 worst-hit towns, only 470,000 have been reached, she said.

"We are going in the right direction, but we still need to scale up our efforts. Now with the new openness of the government, we hope to do it as soon as possible in the coming weeks," she said.

Aid has penetrated more of the affected population in the space of a week. On May 19, the UN food aid agency said about 70 percent of Myanmar's cyclone survivors remained without food aid.

Byrs, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, attributed the sharp rise in aid delivered to more information coming through, but she stressed that the numbers remain only estimates and do not include any form of aid delivered by the Myanmar government.

The UN is aiming to provide up to 40 percent of the affected population with emergency shelters in the next four to six weeks.

In addition, it will prepare jointly with the Association of South-east Asian Nations an assessment of needs by June 15.

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