Latest Current Affairs: 2nd April 2020

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Current Affairs 2nd APRIL 2020
Corona Virus Patient Zero (index patient) identified in Wuhan city of
China
  • Wei Guixian, a 57 years
    old female shrimp seller in Wuhan city identified as the Patient Zero.
  • Patient Zero or Index
    Patient means one of first documented case of any pandemic. The originating
    point of corona virus pandemic, has been identified as one of the first victims
    of COVID-19.
  • Wuhan Municipal Health
    Commission confirmed Wei Guixian was among the first 27 patients to test
    positive fir corona virus and one of 24 cases directly related to market.
  • Through identified as
    ‘patient zero’, Wei Guixian may not be the first person to have contracted
    corona virus.
China:
Capitals: Beijing
Largest City: Shanghai
Official Language: Standard Chinese
Party General
Secretary and President:
Xi Jinping
United
Nations sated COVID-19 is worst crisis since World War 2
  • The United Nations warned that the
    world countries face the most challenging crisis since World War II. The
    pandemic is expected to cause a recession that probably has no parallel in the
    recent past. The announcement was made by the UN Secretary-General Antonio
    Guterres during the launch of the “Report on the socioeconomic impacts of
    COVID-19” on 31 March.
  • The report also highlighted that International Labor
    Organization (ILO) estimates for the year 2020 which stated 5-25 million jobs
    will be lost, with a corresponding loss of between $860 million and $3.4
    trillion in labor income.

United Nations:
Un Charter signed: 26 June 1945; 74 years ago
Headquarters: New York City
Membership: 193 member state, 2 observer
states
Secretary General: Antonio Guterres
1st April – Utkal Diwas

  • Utkal Diwas, meaning Odisha day, is
    observed on 1 April in Odisha every year. The day marks the formation of the
    state in the year 1936. The day remembers the contributions and sacrifices made
    by the people of Odisha. Utkal Diwas is celebrated in many cities, towns in
    India and abroad where people from Odisha reside.
  • The state was formed as a
    politically separate state under British rule on a linguistic basis on1 April
    1936. The newly formed Orissa State consisted of six districts namely Puri,
    Baleswar, Sambalpur, Koraput, Ganjam, and Cuttack. The capital of Odisha was
    Cuttack. The first Governor of Odisha Province was John Austin Hubback.
  • In 1950, the State became a
    constituent state of India. In 2011, the name of the state was changed to
    Odisha from Orrisa and the name of its language was changed to Odia from Oria.
    Later, with an increased population, the state was divided into 30 districts.

Odisha:
Formed: 1 April 1936
Capital: Bhubaneswar
Official Language: Odia
Districts: 30
Governor: Ganeshi Lal
Chief Minister: Naveen Patnaik
Bird: Indian Roller
Flower Ashoka
Dance: Odissi
Finance
Minister Nirmala Sitharaman participates in the 2nd Extraordinary
G20 Finance Minister and Central Bank Governor Minister
  • Nirmala Sitharaman participates in
    the 2nd Extraordinary G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG)
    virtual meeting to discuss the impact of COVID-19 in the global economy &
    coordinate efforts to respond to this global challenge.
G20:
Group of Twenty
Formation: 26
September 1999; 20 years ago
Membership: 20 Member;
Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France,
Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico,  ​Republic of Korea​,​ Russia, Saudi Arabia,
South Africa, ​​​Turkey, United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), and European
Union (EU)​. Spain is a permanent guest invitee to the G20.
Chairman: King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
Current Presidency: Saudi Arabia
Government
notifies regulation of 24 medical devices
  • The government has regulated 24
    classes of medical devices notified under Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 and
    Drugs & Cosmetics Rules, 1945.
  • Out of 24, for 4 scheduled  medical devices- Cardiac Stents, Drug Eluting
    Stents, Condoms and, Intra Uterine Device (Cu-T)the ceiling prices is been
    fixed.
  • The remaining non-scheduled medical
    devices which are notified and regulated as drugs, National Pharmaceutical
    Pricing Authority (NPPA) is currently monitoring Maximum Retail Prices (MRP) to
    ensure that no manufacturer or importer can increase the price by more than 10%
    in the preceding 12 months.
  • NPPA states that all medical devices
    will be  governed under the provisions of
    the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013(with effect from 1st April 2020) by
    which all medical devices will be regulated by the Government as Drugs for
    quality control and price monitoring.
  • According to the Essential
    Commodities Act, 1955, the manufacturer or importer shall be liable to charge a
    higher fee along with the interest from the date of increase in price in
    addition to the penalty.

Saudi
Arabia provides uninterrupted LPG supply to India
  • The Union Minister of Oil Dharmendra
    Pradhan said that Saudi Arabia has announced to provide uninterrupted liquid
    petroleum gas (LPG) supplies to India. On 29 March, he discussed global oil
    market developments with Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdul-Aziz bin Salman and
    Aramco’s Chief Executive Amin Nasser.

Saudi Arabia:
Capital: Riyadh
Currency: Saudi riyal (SR)
Official language: Arabic
King: Salman
Crown Prince: Mohammad bin Salman
Navaratnalu Pedalandariki Illu
Programme: Andhra Prdesh
  • The Government of Andhra Pradesh modified
    the guidelines of Navatatnalu-Pedalandariki Illu programme. The scheme is
    called “Houses for all the poor”.
    The guidelines were changed based on the directions of the
    High Court.

  • Under the scheme, house sites are to be allotted to the poor
    at Rs. 1 to the poor with white ration cards. The State Government is to
    collect Rs. 20 from the people (Rs. 10 for stamp paper charges and Rs 10 for
    lamination charges).
  • The beneficiaries have to compulsorily construct houses
    only. They cannot sell the sites. However, they can sell the houses after
    occupying them for a     minimum
    of five years.

Andhra Pradesh:
Formed: 1 November 1956
Capital: Amaravati
Largest City: Visakhapatnam
Official Language: Odia
Districts: 30
Governor: Biswabhusan Harichandan
Chief Minister: Y.S.Jaganmohan
Reddy
Bird: Rose-ringed parakeet
Flower Jasmin
Dance: Kuchipudi
NASA
to launch new mission ‘SunRISE’ to study the Giant Solar Particle Storms
  • The National Aeronautics and Space
    Administration(NASA) to launch its new mission called the Sun Radio
    Interferometer Space Experiment (SunRISE), a very large radio telescope to
    study how the sun generates & releases the giant space weather storms(solar
    particle storms) into planetary space.
  • The study will help to protect the
    astronauts that travel to the moon & mars by providing better information
    on how the Sun’s radiation affects the space environment in which they travel.
  • The mission is led by Justin Kasper
    at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor & also managed by NASA’s Jet
    Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
  • NASA has awarded USD 62.6 million to
    design, build and launch SunRISE before July 1, 2023.

Sun
RISE:
  • It is an array of 6 CubeSats, where
    each is about the size of a toaster oven, observes radio images of
    low-frequency emission from solar activity and shares them through NASA’s Deep
    Space Network.
  • The constellation of CubeSats will
    fly within 6 miles (9.6kms) of each other above the earth’s atmosphere so as
    not to block the SunRISE’s observed radio signals.
  • The 6 cubeSats together form a 3D
    map; it shows where the giant particle erupts in the sun form and how they
    evolve when expanded outward into space.
  • It will help decide what initiatives
    & accelerates these giant jets of radiation.
  • For the 1st time 6 individual
    spacecraft will also work together to pattern the magnetic field lines reaching
    from the Sun out into interplanetary space.
Short
Notes
  • Assam
    State Disaster Management Authority launched COVID-19 Control Room in Guwahati.
  • Haryana
    designated 3 private labs in Gurugram for COVID-19 testing.
  • Andhra
    Pradesh government appointed Dr.Srinath Reddy as an advisor to the state
    Government
  • World
    will go into recession except India and China due to COVID-19, USD 2.5 trillion
    rescue package needed: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
  • World
    Banks offers USD 1 billion for proposed COVID-19 Indian project.

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