YANGON, Myanmar (AP): Relief supplies being pushed into Myanmar by the international community remain far below the needs of up to 2.5 million victims of the country's devastating cyclone, the United Nations says.

In its latest estimate, the U.N. World Food Program said Thursday that it will have to rush in 390 tons of food every day to reach 750,000 victims it is targeting over the next month.

But less than 300 tons have been distributed since Cyclone Nargis struck May 2-3, killing at least 43,000 people and turning the low-lying Irrawaddy delta into a quagmire of shattered villages and squalid refugee camps ringed by fetid waters.

Hamstringing the international effort is the ruling junta's refusal to allow almost all foreign nationals into the delta area, insisting relief operations there can be handled by Myanmar nationals.

The United Nations says the regime has issued 40 visas to its staffers and another 46 to nongovernment agencies, but these personnel have been confined to the immediate Yangon area.

Among those seeking a visa is the world body's top emergency relief coordinator who U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wants to dispatch to Myanmar.

The secretary-general's office said Thursday that John Holmes, the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, will be sent to Myanmar to try to ``open up more access'' for U.N. relief personnel in some of the hardest-hit areas. Holmes has applied for a visa to enter Myanmar but has not yet gotten approval to visit, Ban's office said.

The official death toll from Cyclone Nargis continued to soar and 1.5 to 2.5 million survivors remained in desperate need of assistance.