Prelims Factoids
H10N3 strain of bird flu
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about H10N3)
What's the NEWS

• China's National Health Commission said that it had confirmed one case of human infection with the H10N3 strain of bird flu in Jiangsu province.
• The case, detected in a male aged 41 living in Zhenjiang, a city in the eastern province, was transmitted from poultry, and the risk of spreading on a large scale was very low
• There has not been any case of human infection of H10N3reported in the world before

Know! all about H10N3

• H10N3 is a low pathogenic, or relatively less severe, strain of the virus in poultry and the risk of it spreading on a large scale was very low
• Many different strains of avian influenza are present in China and some sporadically infect people, usually those working with poultry.
• There have been no significant numbers of human infections with bird flu since the H7N9 strain killed around 300 people during 2016-2017.
• No other cases of human infection with H10N3 have previously been reported globally

Prelims Factoids
WHO approves China's Sinovac
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about list of vaccines approved by WHO for emergency use + about the role of SAGE)
What's the NEWS

• The World Health Organization approved the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use - the second Chinese vaccine to receive the WHO's green light.
• The UN health agency signed off on the two-dose vaccine, which is already being deployed in several countries around the world.
• Last month Sinopharm became the first Chinese vaccine to be approved by the WHO.
• The organisation has also given emergency use listing to vaccines being made by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, and the AstraZeneca jab being produced in India, South Korea and the EU, which it counts separately.
• It also opens the door for the jabs to enter the Covax global vaccine-sharing scheme, which aims to provide equitable access to doses around the world, particularly in poorer countries.
• Currently only AstraZeneca and some Pfizer jabs are flowing through the scheme.
• The WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation have reviewed the jab and published their advice on its usage.
• WHO recommends the vaccine for use in adults 18 years and older, in a two-dose schedule with a spacing of two to four weeks

Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE)

• The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) is a body that advises the World Health Organization (WHO).
• It was established by DGWHO Gro Harlem Brundtland in 1999 "to provide guidance on the work of WHO.
• SAGE is the principal advisory group to WHO for vaccines and immunization.
• It is charged with advising WHO on overall global policies and strategies, ranging from vaccines and biotechnology, research and development, to delivery of immunization and its linkages with other health interventions.
• SAGE is concerned not just with childhood vaccines and immunization, but all vaccine-preventable diseases.
• The SAGE has 15 members, who are "recruited and selected as acknowledged experts from around the world in the fields of epidemiology, public health, vaccinology, paediatrics, internal medicine, infectious diseases, immunology, drug regulation, programme management, immunization delivery, health-care administration, health economics, and vaccine safety.

Prelims Factoids
Delta and Alpha Variant
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about these two variants and the role of WHO Virus Evolution Working Group
What's the NEWS

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recommended a set of names to label emerging coronavirus variants that are deemed to be of global concern.

Know! more about VOC

• The variant first identified in India, technically known as B.1.617.2, can now be described as 'Delta' and the so called 'UK variant' as 'Alpha' according to a note from the organization late on Monday.
• The existing scientific nomenclature system will continue and the new names would only be to aid public discussion using labels that were "non stigmatising" to the countries where they were first identified.
• So far, four Variants of Concern (VOC) have been identified by the WHO: B.1.1.7, B.1.351, P2 and B.1.617.2. Their public labels will be Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta respectively, after the first four letters of the Greek alphabet.

WHO Virus Evolution Working Group

• To assist with public discussions of variants, WHO convened a group of scientists from the WHO Virus Evolution Working Group, the WHO COVID-19 reference laboratory network, representatives from GISAID, Nextstrain, Pango-bodies
• They are tasked with classifying the evolutionary development of coronavirus--additional experts in virological, microbial nomenclature and communication from several countries and agencies to consider easy-to-pronounce and non-stigmatising labels for VOI and VOC.
• This expert group convened by WHO has recommended using labeled letters of the Greek Alphabet, i.e., Alpha, Beta, Gamma, which will be easier and more practical to discussed by non-scientific audiences
• Other variants that too are known to be on the radar but less globally widespread and transmissible, or Variants of Interest, too had Greek names.
• A sublineage of the B.1.617 family is B.1.617.1 that was identified in India and now bears the popular label 'Kappa.'

Health
World No Tobacco Day' 2021

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about World No Tobacco day and steps taken by the health ministry + six WHO regions)
What's the NEWS

• Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare chaired an event to mark the World No Tobacco Day and led the pledge by everyone present to abstain from Tobacco.

Know! some statical facts

• In India, over 1.3 million deaths are attributable to tobacco use every year amounting to 3500 deaths per day, imposing a lot of avoidable socio-economic burden.
• In addition to the death and diseases it causes, tobacco also impacts the economic development of the country
• Smokers face a 40-50% higher risk of developing severe disease deaths from COVID-19.
• As per the WHO study titled "Economic Costs of Diseases and Deaths Attributable to Tobacco Use in India" it has been estimated that the economic burden of diseases and deaths attributable to tobacco use of tobacco in India was as high as Rs. 1.77 lakh crores, amounting to approx 1% of GDP.
• Tobacco control legislation in India dates back to ‘Cigarettes Act, 1975' which mandates display of statutory health warnings in advertisement and on cartons and cigarette packages
• The National Health Policy 2017 with respect to tobacco control: "We have set an ambitious target of reducing tobacco use by 30% by 2025.
• WHO Director General for recognising his services and that of the Health Ministry work on tobacco control in 2021 for conferring Director General's Special Recognition Award in 2021.
• Every year, World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes individuals or organizations in each of the six WHO Regions (AFRO, AMRO, EURO, WPRO, EMRO and SEAR)

The World Health Organization (WHO) divides the world into six WHO regions, for the purposes of reporting, analysis and administration.

1. African Region (AFR)
2. Region of the Americas (AMR)
3. South-East Asian Region (SEAR)
4. European Region (EUR)
5. Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR)
6. Western Pacific Region (WPR)

Information Technology
The issue of traceability
What's the NEWS

• Facebook's messaging platform WhatsApp moved the Delhi High Court against India's new Information Technology rules.
• May 25 was the deadline for IT intermediaries to comply with the new rules, the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules

Know! WhatsApp's problem with the new rules?

• Under the new rules, a "significant social media intermediary providing services primarily in the nature of messaging shall enable the identification of the first originator of the information on its computer resource as may be required by a judicial order
• A significant social media intermediary, as per the new norms, is a social media intermediary which has more than 50 lakh registered users.
• WhatsApp, which reportedly has close to half a billion users in India, is a significant social media intermediary.
• It is also a service "primarily in the nature of messaging". The rules, therefore, require WhatsApp and those offering messaging services and having a user base of over 50 lakh to be able to trace ‘problematic' messages to their originators. The requirement is one of traceability, and WhatsApp is opposed to it.

What's the issue behind traceability?

• WhatsApp's messaging system is end-to-end encrypted, which means, in its own words, "only you and the person you're communicating with can read what's sent, and nobody in between, not even WhatsApp
• Traceability would end up "breaking the very guarantees that end-to-end encryption provide
• In order to trace even one message, services would have to trace every message." The reason it says this is because there is no way to know what a government would want to investigate in the future.

Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules

• After years of discussions and debates, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India has notified new rules under the Information Technology Act, 2000 ("IT Act") for monitoring social media digital media platforms.
• The new rules, viz. Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 ("Intermediary Guidelines") inter alia aims to serve a dual-purpose: (1) increasing the accountability of the social media platforms (such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc.) to prevent their misuse and abuse; and (2) empowering the users of social media by establishing a three-tier redressal mechanism for efficient grievance resolution.
• The Intermediary Guidelines have been framed in exercise of powers under section 87(2) of the IT Act and supersede the previous Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines) Rules, 2011.

Disaster Management
Disaster Management Act, 2005
Relevance IN - Prelims ( know! about DM act 2005 and its provisions) + Mains ( GS III disaster management + GS II Centre state relations)
What's the NEWS

• Hours before he retired, former Chief Secretary of West Bengal Alapan Bandyopadhyay was served a show cause notice by the Union Home Ministry under Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, punishable by an imprisonment of up to two years or a fine or both.
• The section pertains to "punishment for obstruction" for refusal to comply with a direction given by the Central government.
• Mr. Bandyopadhyay has been asked to "explain in writing" to the Home Ministry within three days as to "why action should not be taken against him" under Section 51 of the DM Act.

Know! about the DM Act, 2005

• The DM Act, 2005, first came into existence after the 2004 tsunami, when thousands were killed.
• It was invoked for the first time in the country in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic last year.
• On March 24, 2020, the Centre, through the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) headed by the Prime Minister, invoked the provisions of the Act to streamline the management of the pandemic, empowering District Magistrates to take decisions and centralise other decisions on supply of oxygen and movement of vehicles.
• The Union Home Secretary is the chairman of the national executive committee under the NDMA.
• The Act is still in place and has been extended across the country till June 30.
• Though the DoPT is the cadre-controlling authority of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, the show cause notice was served under provisions of the DM Act, which is under the purview of the Home Ministry.
• The notice said that the officer, by abstaining himself from the review meeting taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at cyclone-affected Kalaikunda in West Bengal
• He acted in a manner tantamount to refusing to comply with lawful directions of the Central Government and is thus violative of Section 51 (b) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005."

Section 51 (b) of DM Act?

• The section prescribes "punishment for obstruction" for refusal to comply with any direction given by or on behalf of the Central government or the State government or the National Executive Committee or the State Executive Committee or the District Authority under the Act.
• It says that violation shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term that may extend to one year or with a fine or both upon conviction.
• It adds that if "such refusal to comply with directions results in loss of lives or imminent danger thereof, shall on conviction be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years."

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