TNPSC Current Affairs March 12, 2020

www.tnpsc.academy – TNPSC Current Affairs March 12, 2020 (12/03/2020)

Topic: Current socio-economic issues, Latest Diary of Events

WHO declares coronavirus a pandemic

As fresh coronavirus cases continue to be reported from different countries, the World Health Organization has finally declared the novel coronavirus a ‘pandemic’.

WHO said it was deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity and by the alarming levels of inaction.

Earlier, on January 30 the WHO declared it was a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern”.

What is an outbreak, epidemic and pandemic?

An outbreak is understood to be a sudden rise in the cases of a disease in a particular place.

An epidemic is a large outbreak among a particular population or region (such as the current situation in China).

A pandemic is “the worldwide spread of a new disease”. There is no specific number of countries that a disease must touch for WHO to classify it as a pandemic.

The spread of COVID 19:

The novel coronavirus disease that emerged in Wuhan, China, in the final days of last year, is now in at least 47 countries around the world, spanning every continent except Antarctica. More than 82,000 people have been infected, and over 2,800 are dead.

Affected countries include Japan, Brazil, Sweden, Canada, Australia, Iran among others.

Previous Pandemics:

In June 2009, the WHO declared a global pandemic of novel influenza A (H1N1), commonly known as swine flu. The WHO has abandoned that system of classification now, even though the term pandemic can still be used “colloquially”.

About Novel Coronavirus disease:

COVID-19 is a respiratory infection. There are many types of coronavirus, some linked to the common cold, but this one is new and was detected toward the end of 2019.

COVID-19 is the official name given to the virus by the World Health Organization. Before WHO officially named the virus, it was also referred to as coronavirus, the novel coronavirus and 2019-nCOV (to indicate the year when the virus was first detected).

Why it is named so?

The coronavirus gets its name from the way it looks: It has a core of genetic material covered by an envelope with protein spikes that resemble a crown. In Latin, a crown is a corona. It’s called a novel coronavirus because it’s new and hasn’t been detected in people before.

What are the symptoms?

COVID-19 is similar to other respiratory illnesses and symptoms include a fever, dry cough, sore throat and headache. There may also be aches and pains, fatigue and, in some cases, vomiting and diarrhea.

While most cases are mild, some individuals may experience more severe symptoms such as shortness of breath and difficulty breathing, and may experience pneumonia in both lungs. Those with health issues or underlying conditions may also have a harder time recovering.

It may take up to 14 days after exposure for symptoms to appear.

How is COVID-19 spread?

COVID-19 is transmitted through liquid droplets or particles when a person coughs or sneezes. These droplets, if containing the virus, can infect a person by entering through the eyes, nose or throat. It’s not believed to be airborne and it’s not known to infect via the skin.

However, the virus can survive on some surfaces so if a person sneezes into their hand, shakes your hand and your then rub your eye with your hand, transmission is possible through self-inoculation.

Topic: Profile of States, Latest Diary of Events

Attukal Pongala festival

Attukal Pongala is a 10-day festival celebrated at the Attukal Temple, Thiruvananthapuram. There will be a huge gathering of millions of women on the ninth day. These women prepare a divine food made of rice in earthen pots and offer it to the Goddess of the Temple. This temple is also known as the women’s Sabarimala.

Topic: Eminent Persons in News, Latest Diary of Events

Mount Kosciuszko – Bhawna Dehariya

Indian mountaineer Bhawna Dehariya has successfully scaled Mount Kosciuszko, the highest mountain peak in Australia. She scaled Mount Everest and Mount Kilimanjaro in the year 2019. Dehariya, who hails from Madhya Pradesh.

Topic: Latest Reports and Summits

Stockholm International Report: India is the second largest importer of arms

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) recently released its report on “Trends in International arms transfers 2019”. According to the report, India is the second largest arms importer in the world.

Key facts:

The report says that Russia is the largest supplier to the Indian market between 2015-19. Russia has remained the top supplier in spite of the fact that Indian Weapons market for Russia declined from 72% to 56%.

The report also says that the top 5 arms importers in the world include Saudi Arabia, India, Egypt, Australia and China. These 5 countries accounted to 36% of world arms imports.

Topic: Latest Reports and International Events

What is the Opec+?

Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, plans to raise its crude oil production significantly above 10 million barrels per day (bpd) in April, after the collapse of the OPEC+ supply cut agreement with Russia.

What’s the issue?

A three-year pact between OPEC and Russia ended in dealings recently after Moscow refused to support deeper oil cuts to cope with the outbreak of the coronavirus and OPEC responded by removing all limits on its own production.

Oil prices plunged 10% as the development revived fears of a 2014 price crash, when Saudi Arabia and Russia fought for market share with U.S. shale oil producers, which have never participated in output-limiting pacts.

What next? Effects now could quickly flood global markets at a time when demand has already weakened substantially.

What is the Opec+?

Opec+ refers to the alliance of crude producers, who have been undertaking corrections in supply in the oil markets since 2017.

OPEC plus countries include Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, South Sudan and Sudan.

What are their goals?

The Opec and non-Opec producers first formed the alliance at a historic meeting in Algiers in 2016. The aim was to undertake production restrictions to help resuscitate a flailing market.

What is OPEC?

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded in Baghdad, Iraq, with the signing of an agreement in September 1960 by five countries namely Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. They were to become the Founder Members of the Organization.

It is a permanent, intergovernmental organization.

Currently, the Organization has a total of 13 Member Countries.

OPEC’s objective is to co-ordinate and unify petroleum policies among Member Countries, in order to secure fair and stable prices for petroleum producers; an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consuming nations; and a fair return on capital to those investing in the industry.

It is headquartered in Vienna, Austria.

OPEC membership is open to any country that is a substantial exporter of oil and which shares the ideals of the organization.