Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

Notes:
The National Health Authority (NHA) has signed an agreement with the ride-haling app Uber, for providing transport services to healthcare workers involved in treatment of covid-19 patients
Through its UberMedic service, the ride-hailing firm is to provide 150 cars free of cost to support medical facilities in certain cities. This initiative comes at the back-drop of the lock-down, where all forms of public and private transportation have been restricted. Hygiene measures such as roof-to-floor plastic sheeting enclosing the driver’s seat and disinfecting the car are ensured in every ride.

Notes:
As per the recent announcement of the Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, more than 50 crore vulnerable citizens will be eligible for free COVID-19 testing and treatment under Ayushman Bharat- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana- PMJAY.
The Minister also appealed to the private labs and hospitals to come forward and become a part of this initiative. Hospitals empanelled under the AB-PMJAY scheme can use their authorised testing facilities or tie up with an authorised testing facility to provide this service.

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 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 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:
The United Nation has been observing April 6 as the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace.
This year, the international day focusses on health benefits of participating in sporting and physical activity, during this time of pandemic and social distancing. The UN also announced a tagline for this day as “For the International Day of Sport this year, let’s Be Active and healthy to beat COVID19”.

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 Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir recently approved the establishment of two Centres for Invention, Innovation, Incubation and Training (CIIIT) in the Union Territory.
This project will be a joint venture between Government of Jammu & Kashmir and Tata Technologies. This centre will provide skill training to students of Engineering Colleges, Polytechnic Colleges and it is and entrepreneurship training to industry professionals.

Notes:
The Supreme Court on Wednesday recently ordered the Central Government to ensure the availability of Personal protective equipment (PPE).
It directed the centre to provide sterile medical gloves, medical masks, goggles, face shields, respirators, shoe covers, head covers and coveralls to all health workers including doctors, nurses, ward boys, other medical and paramedical professionals, who are attending to patients suffering from covid-19 in India.

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.