BEIJING - Hailstorms had killed 29 people across China from March to April 20, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs late Friday.

Hailstorms had stricken 270 county-level areas across 24 provincial regions since March this year, the ministry said.

As of 2:00 pm Friday, hailstorms had affected 3.072 million people, and resulted in direct economic losses of 3.38 billion yuan ($536.7 million).

Of the 29 deaths, ten were reported by Jiangxi, seven by Zhejiang, three by Xinjiang, two by Hunan, two by Guizhou, and one respectively by Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Fujian, Guangdong and Yunnan.