Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 16 (IANS): Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said the state is leading the rest of the country in the pace at which Covid vaccines are being taken. Till now 1.6 million people in Kerala have taken the vaccine jabs.

"We will now speed up the vaccination campaign and make special arrangements to ensure that vaccines are taken to old-age homes and similar places," Vijayan added.

He pointed out that on Tuesday, there were 26,127 Covid positive patients in the state and compared to the past one week, there is a reduction of 31 per cent in positive cases.

"In the last six months, the infection spread has turned out to be the least and the test positivity rate has fallen below three. We will be able to contain the spread of Covid-19 and all people must remember that it's been a year since we started the 'Break the Chain' campaign. Our vigil should continue," Vijayan said.

On Tuesday 1,970 people turned Covid positive after 60,974 samples were sent for testing in the past 24 hours, while 2,884 people recovered taking the total recoveries in the state to 10,63,444.

There were 15 Covid deaths on Tuesday, taking the total toll to 4,422.

There were 1,43,461 people under observation at various places across the state which includes 4,152 at hospitals.

There were 365 hot spots in the state.