THIRUVANANTHAPURAM/CHENNAI: Two southern states appear on course in their effort to flattening the Covid-19 curve with fresh daily cases in Kerala dropping to the single-digit level in the past one week while the number of people getting discharged from hospitals in Tamil Nadu exceeding those getting admitted.Kerala has reported just 32 new cases from April 11 to 17 while 129 patients have recovered from the infection during this period. The total number of cases reported so far is 395. However, not too long ago, health officials were fearing that by mid-April this number would be 500.Dr Amar Fettle, state nodal officer for infectious diseases, said the state was now getting cases only from among those quarantined. “Among the 395 cases reported, we had more from among those who came from abroad (277). This shows that the timely quarantining of people had brought down the cases even among the primary contacts,” he said.The state’s decision to enforce a 28-day quarantine for those who returned from high-risk countries over and above the 14-day WHO-mandated quarantine also paid dividends. “It reduced the number of direct contacts,” said Kerala Medical Officers Association state secretary Dr G S Vijayakrishnan. However, experts warn against lowering the vigil and say the state’s health machinery would have a daunting task if the state’s borders are thrown open after May 3.In Tamil Nadu, researchers and epidemiologists see signs of the beginning of the end of Covid-19, saying more people are getting cured than those getting infected. On Friday, when the state reported 56 new cases, 103 patients got discharged from hospitals.Sitabhra Sinha from The Institute of Mathematical Sciences says the growth of cases in the state is linear, but not exponential. Medical experts attribute it to effective contact tracing. If the present trend continues and no fresh clusters emerge, Tamil Nadu may be able to flattening the curve by the time lockdown ends.As on Friday, Tamil Nadu had 1,323 confirmed cases, 283 recovered and 15 deaths. States like Maharashtra have been recording an exponential rise with 3,202 confirmed cases, 164 recovered and 194 deaths. National Institute of Epidemiology director Manoj V Murhekar says the doubling period getting longer is an indicator of the situation stabilising.