9 PM Current Affairs Brief – April 1st, 2020

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We are posting Todays 9pm Current Affair Brief

About 9pm Current Affair Brief – This initiative provides a brief of all the relevant articles of day in a clear, concise and easily consumable format. Students don’t need to look anywhere more for your daily news bytes. It will help students in their prelims and mains preparation.

For old Archives of 9pm Current Affair Brief, Click on “Archives”

9pm Current Affair Briefs Archives

Acute Encephalitis Syndrome(AES)

News: Amid coronavirus outbreak, Acute Encephalitis Syndrome(AES) returns in Bihar.

Facts:

  • Acute Encephalitis Syndrome(AES) also known as ‘Chamki Fever’ or Litchi Virus is an umbrella term used for infections that causes inflammation irritation or swelling on the brain.
  • Cause: Viruses, bacteria, fungi and a range of agents.However, Japanese encephalitis(JE) virus is the most common cause of AES in India
  • Symptoms: Acute onset of fever, change in mental status (mental confusion, disorientation, delirium, or coma) and new-onset of seizures.
  • Vulnerable: The disease most commonly affects children below the age of 15 years due to high malnourishment.
  • Diagnosis: The National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme in India has set up countrywide surveillance for AES through sentinel sites with a focus on detecting Japanese encephalitis(JEV).Additional Facts:
  • Japanese Encephalitis:
  • It is a mosquito-borne flavivirus and belongs to the same genus as dengue, yellow fever, and West Nile viruses.
  • There is no cure for the disease. The treatment is focused on relieving severe clinical signs and supporting the patient to overcome the infection.

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Explained: What is Rapid Test

News: Kerala government has announced ‘rapid test’ to tackle the suspicion of whether the novel coronavirus has spread into the community.

Facts:

  • A rapid test is a speedy test conducted to determine whether there has been any kind of recent viral infection in a person’s body.
  • When a pathogen enters a human body, specific antibodies are released as a response to the virus.
  • A rapid test can detect the presence of such antibodies in blood, serum or plasma samples quickly indicating a viral infection.It is conducted usually to check for community transmission of a virus during an epidemic.

Stranded in India Portal

News: The Ministry of Tourism has launched the Stranded in India Portal.

Facts:

  • Aim: To extend support to the foreign tourists who are stranded in India by providing information like helpline numbers or call-centres that the foreign tourists can reach out to for help.

Ways and Means Advances

News: The government has increased the limit on Ways and Means Advance (WMA) by 60% to support the cash flow mismatch expected from higher spending to combat the spread of COVID-19.

Facts:

  • Ways and Means Advances(WMA) Scheme was introduced in 1997. These are temporary loan facilities provided by the Reserve Bank of India(RBI) to the central and state governments. 
  • Under this, the government can avail immediate cash from the RBI.But it has to return the amount within 90 days.Interest is charged at the existing repo rate.
  • The limits for Ways and Means Advances(WMA) are decided by the government and RBI mutually and revised periodically.
  • Types of WMA: a) Special WMA: It is extended against the collateral of the government securities held by the State Government and b) Normal WMA: It is based on a three-year average of actual revenue and capital expenditure of the state. It is not collateral-based.

NASA announces SUNRISE Mission

News: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced the Sun Radio Interferometer Space Experiment (SunRISE) Mission.

Facts:

  • Objective: To study how the Sun generates and releases solar particle storms into planetary space.
  • SunRISE contains six CubeSats which will observe radio images of low-frequency emission from solar activity and create 3D maps to locate the origin place of a solar particle storm on the Sun.
  • Significance: Help in greater understanding of the solar system and safeguard astronauts from solar storms while they travel to Mars or the Moon

Additional Facts:

Solar storms: Also called geomagnetic storms, they’re caused by disturbances in the Sun that send charged particles into space.

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