AKIPRESS.COM - The number of livestock deaths caused by extreme wintry weather has exceeded 1.5 million in Mongolia, Xinhua reports, citing the country's State Emergency Commission (SEC).

"At least 1,527,695 head of livestock have perished due to the dzud across the country," Sainbuyan Amarsaikhan, the country's deputy prime minister and head of the SEC, told a press conference.

According to him, 90 districts in most provinces of Mongolia suffer from white dzud, 23 districts in six provinces suffer from iron or ice dzud, and the situation in another 192 districts is approaching disaster.

Dzud is a Mongolian term for a severely cold winter when a large number of livestock die because the ground is frozen or covered by snow.

Over 80% of the country has been blanketed by snow, according to the country's weather monitoring agency.