All the new deaths were reported from northern Uttar Pradesh state, India's most populous and one of its poorest states. One-fifth of its population are homeless.

Five deaths occurred overnight while four other people died earlier this week, Manoj Srivastava, a government spokesman, said in the state capital Lucknow.

Last year, some 420 people died from cold in Uttar Pradesh alone.

strs-er/pmc