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He said that the WFP was in "constant touch" with the military junta to seek flight clearance for the first major airlift of international aid. A handful of smaller shipments from neighbouring countries arrived earlier in the week.

The agency said that a WFP-operated flight did land in Burma from Brindisi, carrying 25 tonnes of shelter material and water-purification tablets provided by the Italian government.

Burma's state media have reported that Cyclone Nargis killed at least 22,980 people and left 42,119 missing, but a top US diplomat said yesterday that more than 100,000 may have died.

Burma's generals, traditionally paranoid about foreign influence, issued an appeal for international assistance after the storm struck Saturday.

They have since dragged their feet on issuing visas to relief workers even as survivors faced hunger, disease and flooding in the hardest-hit Irrawaddy delta.

"We are in constant discussion with them in Yangon (Rangoon), and we expect to receive clearance," Mr Risley said. "It is enough of a challenge that visas are being held up for bringing in experienced international relief workers, but it is specially frustrating that critically needed food aid is being held up."

The London-based human rights group Amnesty International said some donors were delaying aid for fear it would be siphoned off to the army.

WFP’s regional director, Anthony Banbury, indicated that the United Nations had similar concerns. "We will not just bring our supplies to an airport, dump it and take off," he said. "This is one reason why there is a hold-up now, because we are going to bring in not just supplies but a lot of capacity to go with them to make sure the supplies get to the people."

State television yesterday showed Lieutenant-General Thein Sein, the Burmese Prime Minister, distributing food packages to the sick and injured in the delta and soldiers dropping food over villages.

Navy vessels from India and planes from Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Laos and Bangladesh had arrived in recent days with medicine, candles, instant noodles, raincoats and other relief supplies, it said.

Also blocked en route for Burma is a World Vision plane laden with essential food and shelter materials which is sitting on the tarmac in Dubai airport while the charity negotiates entry rights with the military government.

The delays are likely to hinder a joint appeal launched by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) to raise funds for the relief effort as prospective donors become sceptical about resources reaching the country. World Vision, Christian Aid and Save the Children, all members of the DEC, appealed to the public to donate money to help the people of Burma.

The international Red Cross has just received permission to fly in from Kuala Lumpur but further delays are likely because as daylight fades they may have to wait until morning to set off. Teams of disaster relief experts are also being prevented from beginning work as they wait for visas to enter the secretive country.

Aid agencies on the ground say the impact of cyclone Nargis is on the same scale as the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 and the disaster’s toll is compounded by the glacially slow response of the isolated junta to mobilise or sanction a clean-up operation.

Ray Hasan, Christian Aid’s head of Asia, said teams on the ground were waiting for the resources needed to begin the mammoth task of reaching thousands in the Irrawaddy delta.

Mr Hasan described the situation in the country as a "health nightmare" and said the delays and a "lack of engagement from the government" threatened to escalate the problems already leaving more than one million people homeless and in desperate need of clean water and food.

Matthais Schmale, international director of the British Red Cross, told Times Online that "the trickle of aid" reaching Burma was "far too little and for many, too late" and described the effort to get help to those affected as a "race against time".

"What is unique is the extraordinary time it’s taking to organise the relief effort which will make the situation uniquely grim," he said.

Downing Street said that there were "mixed signals" with regard to access by aid agencies, with some granted visas while others were still awaiting permission to enter the country. "In a situation like this, every hour counts. We are continuing to press the Burmese authorities for speedy access," the Prime Minister’s spokesman said.

Dominic Nutt, spokesman for Save the Children, said money raised would reach the most in need. "All the agencies will be bringing aid directly to the people. There’s no middleman, you give it to us, we give it to them," he said.

To donate go to www.dec.org.uk or telephone 0870 60 60 900

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