Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

Notes:
The Government of India placed curbs on exports of diagnostic kits (diagnostic or laboratory reagents on a backing, preparation diagnostic or laboratory reagents) with immediate effect.
As per the recent notification of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), this step has been taken to discourage shipments amid the coronavirus outbreak. An exporter will have to get license from the DGFT for shipments, which were allowed without restrictions earlier.

Notes:
A four-year-old female tiger named Nadia from the Bronx Zoo in New York City, has been tested positive for the coronavirus.
This is claimed to be the first known case where transmission of the coronavirus from human to an animal has been confirmed. The tiger is believed to have been infected by an asymptomatic zoo-keeper. Later, six other animals, including lions and tigers, have also been showing symptoms.

Notes:
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has recently announced that it has completed the construction of 3979 km of highways in the financial year 2019-20.
Its official statement also read that this is the highest ever highway construction achieved in a financial year by NHAI, since its inception in 1995. Though NHAI could not meet the target of 4500 km for the current fiscal, it has seen a steady growth in the construction phase.

Notes:
A walk-in sample collection kiosk has been installed in a Government Medical College Hospital in Ernakulam district, similar to the testing model of South Korea.
This model of kiosk does not require the usual practice of health workers to wear gloves and protective gear. They have built-in gloves, which can be used by health workers as protective shield while collecting samples of suspected Covid-19 patients. After each patient leaves the kiosks, the gloves and chair are disinfected and reused.

Notes:
The World Health Organisation has recently released a report titled ‘State of the World’s Nursing 2020’, on the occasion of the World Health Day on 7th April 2020.
It states that Nursing is the largest occupational group in the health sector, which accounts for about 59% of the health professions. The report highlights that Investment in nurses will contribute not only to health-related SDG targets, but also to education (SDG 4), gender (SDG 5), decent work and economic growth (SDG 8).

Notes:
The teams of Thailand and Malaysia have been banned from participating in weightlifting events at the Tokyo Olympics.
The sanctions panel of the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) has imposed disciplinary sanctions on the two countries regarding the same. The panel also suspended the Thai Amateur Weightlifting Association (TAWA) for three years and the Malaysian Weightlifting Federation (MWF) for a year.

Notes:
The innovation cell of Ministry of HRD and AICTE have recently launched an online challenge for students called ‘SAMADHAN’, in collaboration with Forge and InnovatioCuris.
This challenge calls for students to search and develop quick solutions to the Coronavirus pandemic, that will assist the government agencies and health services. Under the programme, the students and teachers of the country will be motivated for conducting new experiments.

Notes:
As per the recent notification of WIPO, China topped the world in filing International Patents filed with WIPO, in 2019.
China has filed 58,990 applications in 2019 via WIPO’s Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) System thereby surpassing the United States, which topped every year since the PCT began operations in 1978. China also recorded growth in the international intellectual property (IP) services, treaty-adherence activity of WIPO.

Notes:
The Tropical Cyclone named ‘Harold’ recently hit the South Pacific island nations including Vanuatu islands and Fuji. It started from the south-west Pacific nation Solomon Islands last week, where it claimed 27 lives.
Later, it hit the Vanuatu islands and caused damages especially in the main town Luganville. Though the cyclone was expected to only reach Category Three, it reached the Category Four in Fiji, where the winds are blowing up to 240 kilometres per hour.

Notes:
Veteran Indian-American journalist Brahm Kanchibotla has passed away due to Covid-19 at the age of 66, in the United States.
He was serving as one of the correspondents for United News of India. He had settled in the United States after a long experience in Indian publications. He had been in the field of journalism in the United States for nearly 28 years. He was associated with Merger Markets and News India-Times weekly.