General Awareness

GENDER/ HEALTH/ EDUCATION - July 2019

Jul 2019

Mar 25, 2020

PM Announces 21-Day Nationwide Lockdown

Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared a three-week nationwide "complete lockdown" from March 25, 2020 in the world's largest such exercise aimed at stemming the spread of coronavirus that has infected 557 people and claimed the lives of 10 in the country.
"From midnight today, there will be a complete lockdown. To save India, to save every citizen, to save you and your family, from 12am, there will be a complete ban on stepping out of the house. Every state, every village, union territory is being locked down. This is a step further than the Janata curfew. It is a step that is needed," Modi said in a televised address to the nation.

Hantavirus Kills Man In China, 32 Co-Passengers In Bus Being Tested

A person from south China's Yunnan province died of hantavirus infection, or the hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) while on his way to eastern China's Shandong province.
"He was tested positive for hantavirus. Other 32 people on the bus were tested," the GT tweet said without elaborating.
According to the World Health Organisation, HPS is a zoonotic (which could spread from animals to human) viral respiratory disease, which could spread from rodents.
The disease symptoms are headache, dizziness, chills fever, muscle pain, and stomach problems, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain, followed by sudden onset of respiratory distress and low blood pressure.

Mar 24, 2020

SBI Commits 0.25% Of FY20 Annual Profit To Help Fight COVID-19

The country's biggest lender State Bank of India said it will provide 0.25 per cent of its annual profit for 2019-20 to fight the coronavirus outbreak in India. The announcement came hours after the government notified spending by companies to deal with the coronavirus outbreak as corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity under the companies law.
The fund used to fight the coronavirus pandemic will be spent from CSR funds, SBI said in a statement.
"This is in line with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs' notification of spending CSR funds for COVID-19 as an eligible CSR activity," it said.
Companies' expenditure to deal with the coronavirus outbreak will be considered as CSR activities.

ICMR Recommends Hydroxychloroquine For High-Risk Population

Amid rising coronavirus cases in the country, the national task force for COVID-19 constituted by Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has recommended hydroxy-chloroquine as a preventive medication for high-risk population.
According to the advisory, it should be given to high risk population -- asymptomatic healthcare workers involved in the care of suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19 and asymptomatic household contacts of laboratory confirmed cases.
The protocol recommended by the National Task Force has been approved by the Drug Controller General of India (DGCI) for restricted use in emergency situations.

Reliance Sets Up India's First Dedicated Coronavirus Hospital

Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has announced a slew of measures to fight the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) including setting up India's first dedicated COVID-19 hospital, special quarantine facilities, importing additional test kits and enhancing its production capacities to produce 1,00,000 face-masks per day.
Within two weeks, Sir H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital in collaboration with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), has set up a dedicated 100 bedded centre at Seven Hills Hospital, Mumbai, for patients who test positive for COVID-19.

Mar 23, 2020

Cabinet Approves Inclusion Of AYUSH Health, Wellness Centres In NAM

The Union Cabinet has approved the inclusion of AYUSH Health and Wellness Centre (AYUSH HWC) component of Ayushman Bharat in National AYUSH Mission (NAM).
The proposal entails an expenditure of Rs. 3399.35 Crore (Rs.2209.58 Crore as Central Share and Rs. 1189.77 crore as State share) for operationalization of AYUSH HWCs within a period of five years that is from financial years 2019-20 to 2023-24.
The government said that the operationlization of AYUSH HWCs component under NAM is done to establish a holistic wellness model based on AYUSH principles and practices focusing on preventive promotive, curative, rehabilitative and palliative healthcare by integration with the existing public health care system.

Finland Crowned World's Happiest Country For Third Year Running

For the third year in a row, Finland has been named the world's happiest country.
The annual United Nations World Happiness Report released its 2020 edition, revealing that the Nordic country is number one once again.
Since the first report in 2012, only four countries have claimed the top spot: Denmark in 2012, 2013 and 2016, Switzerland in 2015, Norway in 2017, and now Finland in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
The 2020 report ranked 156 countries by how happy their citizens perceive themselves to be, based on their evaluations of their own lives.
Finland came top by some margin, followed by Denmark, Switzerland, Iceland and Norway.
All the Nordic countries appeared in the top 10.
The UK missed out on the top 10, coming in 13th place, while the US came in at number 18.

SAARC Disaster Management Centre Launches Website For Information Related To COVID- 19

The SAARC Disaster Management Centre has launched a website for information related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the region. The website shows the number of coronavirus cases in the member states while updating the numbers regularly. The website is www.covid19-sdmc.org.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had proposed it during the recent video conference with leaders and representatives of the member states. The website shows that at least 960 coronavirus cases have been reported in the SAARC region. It says that at least five people have lost their lives in India, three in Pakistan, while two died in Bangladesh due to COVID-19.

Mar 19, 2020

IIT Hyderabad Creates a Sanitiser to Fight Coronavirus

As cities across India face a shortage of sanitisers and disinfectants due to hoarding and panic, researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Hyderabad developed their own hand-sanitiser. The institute claims the product is in line with standards recommended by World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control (CDC), a federal health agency in the US.
The IIT researchers will make the hand-sanitiser available for the use of staff and students in the institute as well as the neighbouring community.

Roche Diagnostics India's First Private Firm Gets Coronavirus Test Approval

Swiss firm Roche Diagnostics India received the license for conducting coronavirus tests after approval from drug regulator DCGI, making it the first private firm to get such permission after the government decided to allow accredited private labs to test for COVID-19.
As per reports, the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) is now assessing giving license to another private diagnostic firm, bioMérieux, which has also sought approval to conduct tests for coronavirus.
Two Indian diagnostic companies– Trivitron Healthcare and Mylab Discovery Solution– have also sought approval from the DCGI for the coronavirus testing kits developed by them.
The Union health ministry had issued guidelines for private sector laboratories intending to initiate COVID-19 testing while appealing them to conduct the tests free of cost.

HRD Ministry to Launch e-classes on Swayam Prabha DTH Channels

The Ministry of Human Resource Development will launch e-classes on Swayam Prabha DTH channels for school students in view of coronavirus outbreak, Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ''Nishank'' said.
Time-slots of 4 hours daily has been approved on Swayam Prabha DTH channels for selected states.

Mar 18, 2020

E-learning Platforms Step in

With the Coronavirus outbreak gaining steam in India, governments around the country are shutting down schools and colleges to prevent mass gatherings. To prevent the educational year from breaking down, e-learning platforms are stepping in with their services. To be clear, the pandemic also gives the platforms a chance to market themselves and find prospective customers.
Coursera, one of the largest e-learning platforms in the world, has announced that its Coursera for Campus platform will be made available for free to any university so students can "continue to learn on the platform". The platform is free to universities till July 31 this year and Coursera plans to provide month-to-month extensions "depending on prevailing risk assessments" after that.
Similarly, homegrown Byju's has announced that its complete app is going to be free for school students till the end of April. Another platform called Toppr has said its content is available to all students for free unconditionally.

Share on

TCY Analytics (View Subscription Plans)

Subscribe to GK Updates

I want to receive

GK Tags

October GK, September GK, August GK, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, ENVIRONMENT, BUSINESS AND ECONOMY, SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY, SPORTS, NATIONAL AFFAIRS, DEFENCE, PERSONS IN NEWS, DAYS AND EVENTS, AWARDS AND HONOURS, GOVERNMENT POLICIES AND SCHEMES, GENDER/ HEALTH/ EDUCATION, ART AND CULTURE, BOOKS AND AUTHORS, TOURISM AND HOTEL INDUSTRY AWARENESS, ART AND CULTURE, LAW AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Start Discussion

On any topic

Take Tests

Compiled from GK updates

Login

Sign Up

Forgot Password

Download TCY App

Unlock All Services and Enjoy The Premium Benefits

US$ 10

US$ 13

US$ 15

US$ 17

US$ 19

US$ 20

US$ 21

US$ 22

US$ 23

US$ 24

US$ 25

US$ 26