Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated before the typhoon arrived,but many evacuation centres were unable to withstand the winds and storm surges.
Haiyan brought sustained winds of 235km/h (147 mph), with gusts of 275 km/h (170 mph)and waves as high as 15m (45ft).
The typhoon then headed west, sweeping through six central Philippine islands and into Vietnam, where state media said at least 13 people had died.
At least six were also reported killed in southern China, after Haiyan tore through Hainan province and the Guangxi Zhang autonomous region over the weekend, state media reports.
In the UK, the Disaster Emergency Committee (DEC) group of 14 charities launched its own appeal to help the typhoon victims on Tuesday.
DEC chairman Salah Saeed compared the destruction in the city of Tacloban to that seen after the devastating tsunami of 2004.
"There is currently no food, water or electricity. We can only imagine how much worse the situation will be for families living in towns and remote villages,"he said.