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:
The Government of India has constituted an empowered Committee (Group 6) to coordinate with Private Sector, NGOs and International Organisations related to COVID-19.
The committee is chaired by the CEO of NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant. It aims to address the issues with UN agencies, World Bank, ADB; Civil society organisations and Industry associations. Other members include Principal Scientific Advisor Dr Vijayaraghavan and members from CBIC, Ministries of Home Affairs and External Affairs.

Notes:
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been celebrating the World Health Day on 7th April every year. This year, the tagline for World Health Day 2020 is ‘Support nurses and midwives’.
This year had also been designated as the ‘International Year of the Nurse and the Midwife’. WHO highlighted the crucial role of Nurses and other health workers, who are working in the COVID-19 response activities of the world

Notes:
The Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe recently declared a state of emergency in the country, due to the rise in the coronavirus cases.
A month-long state of emergency starting from April 7 has been declared in the capital city Tokyo and six other parts of the country. This move gives powers to local governments to contain the spread of the coronavirus, by urging residents to stay at home and calling for businesses to close.

Notes:
A Central government enterprise under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, HLL Lifecare Limited has developed a rapid antibody diagnostic kit for COVID-19.
The kit has been validated and approved by the NIV and the ICMR and will be marketed under the brand name of “MakeSure”. The result would be obtained from the patient sample in 15-20 minutes using the kit. About two lakh kits for supplying to various government units are to be manufactured within the next 10 days.

Notes:
Representatives of SAARC had a discussion on the impact of Covid-19 situation on intra-regional trade through video-conferencing.
The senior trade officials of all SAARC countries except Pakistan, also discussed the impact of travel restrictions. This is the follow-up of the first virtual meeting held on March 15. The eight member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Notes:
The United Nations has recently released a report titled ‘Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) 2020: Towards sustainable economies’.
As per the report, the GDP growth of India for the current fiscal is expected to dip to 4.8 per cent. The report also warned that the COVID-19 pandemic would result in adverse economic impacts globally. UN had earlier estimated the GDP growth of India at 5% for the current fiscal.

Notes:
The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority of India (PFRDA) recently announced that the National Pension System (NPS) subscribers will be allowed partial withdrawal for covering expenses related to COVID-19 treatment.
It also announced that COVID-19 would be declared as a critical illness which is life threatening in nature. PFRDA also announced that there is no provision for partial withdrawal for Atal Pension Yojana (APY) customers at present. Both NPS and APY are managed and run by PFRDA.

Notes:
Manila-based international financial institution, Asian Development Bank (ADB) assured $2.2 billion assistance to India, for tackling the Covid-19 outbreak.
Earlier, the World Bank has approved to provide $1 billion assistance to India for fighting against Covid-19, especially to detect and prevent the disease and to strengthen its public health preparedness.

Notes:
Jim Corbett, the oldest National Park of India, has set up the country’s first quarantine facility for animals. The national park is situated in Paurhi Garhwal region in the state of Uttarakhand.
After a Malayan tiger was tested positive for COVID-19 in Bronx zoo in the United States, the Indian park has started to set up about 10 quarantine centres within its premises to isolate animals. The cages built for wild animals are also to be converted into quarantine facility.