BEIJING, May 15 (Xinhua) -- China reported steady afforestation progress in the first four months of the year despite the COVID-19 epidemic, the country's forestry and grassland authorities said Friday.

The country had completed 46.96 percent of the annual afforestation target during the January-April period, with a total of 47.4 million mu (about 3.16 million hectares) of trees planted by the end of April, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA) said at a press conference.

Provinces including Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian and Henan had already fulfilled their year-round afforestation tasks, while places such as Hebei, Anhui and Guangdong had completed over 50 percent of the annual afforestation tasks, the NFGA said.

China plans to increase afforested areas by 6.7 million hectares by the end of this year, in order to fulfill a long-term afforestation plan of increasing forest coverage rate to 23.04 percent by 2020, and to 26 percent by 2035.