Lucknow, Jun 22 (IANS): Over seven lakh people were administered the Covid vaccines in a single day in Uttar Pradesh, exceeding the target of six lakhs.

The state administered as many as 7,16,146 doses of Covishield and Covaxin on Monday, the highest it has touched since vaccinations began in January.

This takes the total doses administered in the state so far to 2,62,49,887.

Earlier in April, approximately 5.5 lakh people had been vaccinated for a single-day record.

Additional chief secretary, health and family welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad, said that more than 7.16 lakh vaccines were administered on Monday.

"We plan to maintain this pace throughout the month," he added.

The state has set a target of vaccinating between 6 to 7 lakh persons per day from Monday till June 30 to reach a target of one crore for the month of June.

From July 1, it aims to vaccinate at least 10 lakh people a day so that by the end of August, the state can achieve its goal of having vaccinated 10 crore people.

"The government has set up special booths for women, parents whose children are less than 12 years old and is also carrying out special vaccination drives in blocks," said Navneet Sehgal, additional chief secretary (information).

He added that there were close to 8,500 vaccination centres in the state, of which 89 were private hospitals.

Till Monday, 2,21,90,836 have been administered the first dose while 12,49,021 have been administered both doses.

Lucknow continues to top the list of districts with the highest number of doses administered till now, at 12,49,021.

Ghaziabad inched its way to the top of the daily tally on Monday, having administered 27,925 doses. A close second was Gorakhpur which vaccinated 25,164 people.

Chitrakoot, with 96,234 doses administered till Monday, is the only district in the state which has not crossed the one lakh tally.

On Monday, too, it was also the district which administered the least number of doses at 2,660.

Aurraiya fared a little better. having vaccinated 3,034 people followed by Sambhal, which administered 3,083 doses on Monday.

In view of vaccine shortages in May and the early part of June, Uttar Pradesh had issued a global tender to procure vaccines but later cancelled it as the Centre revised its strategy.

The Centre is procuring 75 per cent vaccines and providing them to states free of cost while the remaining 25 per cent are being procured by private hospitals.