BEIJING - Lack of rain will continue to bite the drought-plagued regions along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River till the end of May, the China Meteorological Administration said Saturday.

The severe drought started in April and, as of Friday, has affected 34.83 million people in the five provinces of Jiangsu, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, and Hunan, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.

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The drought has prompted the government to roll out measures for relief work, including a call for continuous improvements to the water discharge plan for the Three Gorges Dam and an allocation of funds to alleviate the impact from the lingering dry weather.

Meanwhile, heavy rains will hit the southwestern and northeastern parts of the country in the days leading up to May 31, the administration forecasted on its website.

Moderate to heavy rains or showers will pound the southeastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, western Yunnan province, the northern and southwestern Sichuan basin, northern Chongqing, western Hubei and areas in the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning.