An 87-year-old man from Engandiyur, who was under treatment for breathlessness, died of COVID-19 in Thrissur on Sunday.

The man, who was undergoing treatment at a private hospital, was shifted to the Thrissur Medical College Hospital as his condition deteriorated. However, he died soon after reaching the hospital. Forty persons, including doctors of the private hospital, would be kept under observation. This is the second death in the district and 16th in the State.

Meanwhile, the case graph climbed above hundred for the third consecutive day, with 107 persons testing positive on Sunday. As has been the trend in the past one month, a chunk of the new cases — 99 out of the 107 new cases — are imported cases of infection detected in persons who have come into Kerala from abroad or from other States. The remaining eight cases are a result of local transmission acquired through contact with known or unknown source of infection.

With 41 patients who were undergoing treatment leaving hospitals after recovery, the number of active cases stand at 1,095. The cumulative case burden of the State is 1,914,

Kerala had six more regions in Wayanad, Palakkad and Kannur listed as hotspots on Sunday, taking the total number of hotspots to 144.

Antibody test

With the need for testing more persons in the community becoming more evident, Kerala is launching extensive antibody testing across districts on Monday for disease surveillance in the community and to determine if silent disease transmission is happening.

The State is expecting to conduct at least 1,500 tests a week, using the rapid antibody test kits procured from HLL Lifecare Ltd.