Thiruvananthapuram,  For the first time in weeks, Kerala's test positivity rate (TPR) fell below 15 per cent on Friday, so did the deaths of Covid positive patients, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a statement.

The TPR, at one point last month, had risen as high as 30 per cent and for weeks, it was hovering above 15 per cent, when the government decided to tighten the lockdown norms.

Meanwhile, from Saturday, the relaxed norms of opening of textiles, jewellery and such shops will remain suspended till Wednesday next.

Vijayan's statement said Friday saw 16,229 people turn positive after 1,09,520 samples were tested in the past 24 hours and the total number of active cases was 1,74,526.

The day also saw 25,860 turning negative taking the total cured to 24,16,639.

With 135 deaths being recorded, the total death toll has touched 9,510.

The number of people under observation at various places also came below 7 lakh, to 6,93,284, which included 35,605 at hospitals.

Meanwhile, the first batch of 25,000 Covishield vaccines is arriving at the Technopark here on Tuesday.

The Technopark is home to close to 50,000 employees and the vaccines , part of the 2 lakh doses being sourced, are being given for free to the employees and their families by the respective IT companies.