Current Affairs Quiz - April, 2020

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:
Renowned folk and country singer of the United States, John Prine recently passed away at the age of 73, due to complications from Covid-19.
The singer was considered as one of the most influential and inspiring songwriters of his generation. The singer cum songwriter had very close association with his compatriots and singers Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson.

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:
The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has recently inked an agreement with the Indian non-profit organisation CUTS International, to empower consumers during the coronavirus pandemic.
Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS) International is a Rajasthan-based non-profit organisation founded in 1983. UNIDO and CUTS have also planned to develop a BRICS e-commerce project, which was implemented as a pilot project by UNIDO in the BRICS countries between 2016 and 2018.

Notes:
Google has recently announced that it has launched a Braille keyboard named ‘TalkBack’, for assisting the visually challenged users.
This new type of keyboard is integrated directly into its Android operating system and the visually challenged users can use the keyboard easily without having to install any extra hardware. The keyboard uses a six-key layout, wherein each key represents one among the six Braille dots.

Notes:
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is a leading non-government and non-profit Industry association of India. It has recently released a report titled ‘Exit from The Lockdown- A CII Strategy’.
In the report, the association suggested that government should give adequate notice before announcing the end of restrictions. It also recommended a calibrated lifting of the lockdown. The association also expects the announcement of an economic package before the lifting of lockdown.

Notes:
The Union Ministry of External Affairs has announced a training programme on COVID-19 for healthcare professionals of SAARC countries.
The Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) programme will conduct this training programme from April 17, 2020. The SAARC leaders had a virtual meeting on March 15, where an idea was proposed by India, to cumulate the efforts of all health professionals against the COVID-19.

Notes:
Hyderabad-based Defence Research and Development Laboratory of DRDO has recently developed ‘COVID-19 Sample Collection Kiosk’ (COVSACK), to fight the coronavirus.
The kiosk which has an automatic disinfecting feature, has been developed in association with the doctors of Employees’ State Insurance Corporation in Hyderabad. The kiosk enables the healthcare workers to take coronavirus samples from suspected infected patients without frequently changing PPEs.

Notes:
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and Tata Memorial Centre (TMC) have jointly created an informative website called ‘CovidGyan’.
This website serves as a comprehensive hub which consolidates all information available about the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. The initiative has been launched with an aim of making the scientific aspects of this pandemic available in public domain.

Notes:
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has recently released the first stage of Long Range Forecast (LRF) for south-west monsoon season.
As per its forecast, the southwest monsoon from June to September over India may be normal across the country. It also forecasted that the intensity of monsoon rainfall would be between 96 and 104 per cent of the long period average (LPA) of the country, which is 880 mm during 1961-2010.