In Uttar Pradesh, 12 people have died from the cold in the last two days, while eleven people have died in the last four days in neighbouring Bihar, officials from the states' disaster relief offices said.

Villagers in drafty huts, city slum dwellers and the homeless are the hardest hit in winter in northern India states as icy winds come sweeping down from the Himalayas.

In the capital and across the region, many thousands of people can be seen huddling around roadside bonfires come nightfall, and Uttar Pradesh government is ordering that more be lit until the cold weather passes.

In parts of Uttar Pradesh, the temperature has dropped as low as 1.8 Celsius (35 Fahrenheit).

The temperature is expected to drop by another 1 or 2 degrees Celsius over the coming days, said K P Kulshreshtha, Director of the Uttar Pradesh meteorological office.