A total of 37 people, including 20 children, have frozen to death in east Afghanistan's Ghazni province in the past 24 hours, the provincial governor said on Tuesday.

A number of people died after their vehicles were blocked by snowdrifts, Faizullah Faizan said.

Blizzards and freezing weather across the whole of Afghanistan have so far killed over 300 people in recent weeks. The death toll is expected to continue to rise.

Heavy snowfalls have almost completely isolated many roads linking the capital to outlying districts and remote areas, hampering the efforts of aid workers.

Residents of Afghanistan's northern provinces, stricken with hunger and cold, have apparently even taken to attempting to sell their children to buy bread and coal. At least six cases have been reported in Baghlan this month alone. Aid workers have also reported being attacked by starving Afghan mountain dwellers.