Relevance IN - Prelims (about Arogya Setu app)
What's the NEWS

• The Government of India launched a mobile app developed in public-private partnership to bring the people of India together in a resolute fight against COVID-19.

Know! more about the app

• The App, called ‘AarogyaSetu' joins Digital India for the health and well-being of every Indian.
• It will enable people to assess themselves the risk for their catching the Corona Virus infection.
• It will calculate this based on their interaction with others, using cutting edge Bluetooth technology, algorithms and artificial intelligence.
• Once installed in a smart phone the app detects other devices with AarogyaSetu installed that come in the proximity of that phone.
• The app can then calculate the risk of infection based on sophisticated parameters if any of these contacts is tested positive.
• The App will help the Government take necessary timely steps for assessing risk of spread of COVID-19 infection, and ensuring isolation where required.

COVID-19
National Corona Survey
Relevance IN - Prelims (about the National Preparedness Survey)
What's the NEWS

• The Ministry of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions released the National Preparedness Survey on COVID 19

Know! more about the Survey

• The COVID 19 National Preparedness Survey 2020 was conducted in 410 Districts in the Country within 3 working days to attain a bird's eye view of the governance challenges of the Nation while coping with the greatest health crisis India faced since Independence.
• The COVID 19 Preparedness Survey was conducted across all Districts of India, with responses from 410 civil servants who are providing field level leadership.

The objectives of this preparedness survey are as follows:

• to develop a comparative analysis of COVID 19 preparedness across States;
• to highlight the main priorities and constraints of COVID 19 preparedness, as they are perceived by the civil servants working in the field;
• to access enabling factors in making institutional/ logistics/ hospital preparedness, etc.;
• to capture trends to identify systemic and process related deficiencies, in combating COVID 19 in the districts of India.

Bilateral relations
70 Years of Diplomatic Relations between China and India

Relevance IN - Prelims (facts about the India - China relations + about informal summit) + Mains (GS II bilateral relations)
What's the NEWS

• On April 1, 1950, India became the first non-Communist country in Asia to establish diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC).
• India and China jointly hold 70 events to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties, following an agreement reached between Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at their informal summit in Mamallapuram near Chennai

Know! more about these activities

• These activities will demonstrate the historic connect between the two civilizations as well as their growing bilateral relationship over the years
• They will further deepen people-to-people exchanges between the two countries at all levels
• In the Mamallapuram summit -Indian Prime Minister showcased Tamil Nadu state's links with China's south eastern coastal Fujian
• The two sides also agreed to engage in cooperative projects in studying ancient maritime links between India and China.
• This will be through the establishment of sister-state relations between Tamil Nadu and Fujian Province, exploring the possibility of establishing an academy to study links between Tamil Nadu and Fujian and conducting research on maritime links between the two countries.
• The Chinese side will hold an India-China Trade and Investment Cooperation Forum in India
• The Indian side is to send naval ships to China besides a mid level armed forces delegation.

Know! about the informal summit

• Modi and Xi met for their second informal summit at Mamallapuram, a coastal town near Chennai, on 11-12 October and discussed a range of bilateral issues. The first informal summit was held in Wuhan in China in April last year.
• In the Mamallapuram summit, the two countries had agreed that they would host 35 events each.

COVID-19 (government measures)
FCI ensures uninterrupted food grain supplies
Relevance IN - Prelims (about NFSA + about PM Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana + benefits of e-auctions under Open Market Sales Scheme (OMSS)
What's the NEWS

• Food Corporation of India (FCI) is ensuring uninterrupted supply of wheat and rice throughout the country during the lockdown period.

Know! more about it

• FCI is fully prepared to meet not only the food grain requirement under National Food Security Act (NFSA) @5 KG/Month/Beneficiary but also any additional demand including supply of 5Kg/Person for next 3 months to 81.35 Crore people under PM Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana. As on 01.04.2020
• FCI has 56.4 Million Metric Tonnes (MMT) of Food Grains (30.54 MMT Rice and 25.86 MMT Wheat).
• FCI is able to meet the increasing demand of food grains by gearing up the pace of supply of wheat and rice throughout the country mostly by Rail.
• FCI is conducting e-auctions under Open Market Sales Scheme (OMSS) for providing Wheat to the empanelled Roller Flour Mills/State Government to ease the supply constraint in the market.

COVID-19
Portable Multi-feed Oxygen Manifold (MOM)

Relevance IN - Prelims (about 'Portable Multi-feed Oxygen Manifold (MOM)
What's the NEWS

• Personnel from Naval Dockyard in Andhra Pradesh's Visakhapatnam have designed an innovative 'Portable Multi-feed Oxygen Manifold (MOM)' using a six-way radial header fitted to a single cylinder.

Know! more about MOM

• This innovation would enable one oxygen bottle to supply six patients concurrently thus enabling critical care management to a larger number of Covid-19 patients with the existing limited resources.
• The entire set up was made operational by the manufacture of a fine adjustment reducer and specific adapters of requisite dimensions for connecting the oxygen cylinder and the portable MOM.
• A typical oxygen providing facility at hospitals comprises of an oxygen cylinder feeding only one patient through a Ventimask arrangement.
• This portable arrangement could provide oxygen through masks to a number of needy patients using a single-cylinder during emergencies which is the need of the hour.
• After successful trials, Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam has commenced manufacture of 10 portable MOM with two 6-way radial headers catering for 120 patients at makeshift locations for cater for the Covid-19 pandemic.
  
  

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