Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

Notes:
Facebook-owned Instant messaging platform WhatsApp recently announced that it has limited the sharing of frequently forwarded messages to only one chat at a time.
This step has been taken to curb spreading of misinformation and fake news amid the coronavirus pandemic. WhatsApp also launched the WHO Coronavirus Health Alert service for people across the world and MyGov Corona Helpdesk in India in partnership with the Indian government.

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:
According to a recent report released by the government, India’s fiscal deficit stood at 5.07% of gross domestic product (GDP) in February. Industrial output, measured in terms of Index of Industrial Production (IIP), was also at 4.5% in February.
The Government has revised its fiscal deficit target of 3.8% of GDP for FY20, during the 2020 Union Budget presentation. With a 5.07% fiscal deficit, it is expected that the revised target for the year 2019-20 would be difficult to be achieved.

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:
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has approved using diagnostic machines that are used for testing drug-resistant Tuberculosis for conducting coronavirus tests.
The ICMR has recommended this as a screening test. As per the guidance issued, throat or nasal swabs are to be collected in the viral transport medium with the ‘virus lysis buffer’, which is provided along with the kit. ICMR-NIV, Pune will inform about the effects of the viral RNA after neutralization of this novel coronavirus by the lysis buffer.

Notes:
The United Nations General Assembly declared 12 April as the International Day of Human Space Flight in the year 2011.
12 April 1961 was the date of the first human space flight, carried out by the Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, who was the first person to fly in space. The day is celebrated to commemorate this historic event which opened the way for space exploration across the globe.

Notes:
India is the largest producer and exporter of Hydroxychloroquine with nearly 70 per cent of annual global production.
As per the recent announcement from the Department of Pharmaceuticals, our country has enough stock and manufacturing capacity of the formulation to cater both the domestic requirement and export commitments. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had recommended hydroxychloroquine to be used as a preventive medication for persons in the high-risk group.

Notes:
Technology giants Apple and Google recently announced a joint initiative to develop a technology solution for Contact Tracing activity, which will help the governments and health agencies to curb the spread of coronavirus.
The system which will use the Bluetooth technology, will identify people who are in contact with an infected person and provide alert message to the user. The companies also clarified that the system will be developed without compromising the privacy of the user.

Notes:
As per a survey released by the National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER), incomes of about 85% of households in the National capital region (NCR) have been impacted by the Covid-19 outbreak and the resulting lockdown.
The survey also highlighted that casual labourers were excessively affected with the wages of nearly 75% of them were affected. For salaried class, the income was affected for about 46.7% of the employees.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of Agriculture has recently set up a call- centre for enabling free inter-state movement of agricultural commodities.
Named the ‘All India Agri Transport Call Centre’, it coordinates the movement of perishable goods like vegetables and fruits as well as agricultural inputs like seeds, pesticides and fertilisers from one state to another. If any query in transport is received, the call centre forwards it to officials of state government.