Current Affairs, April 2020

30th April, Current Affairs:

• Veteran actor Rishi Kapoor passed away in Mumbai today. He was 67. Rishi Kapoor was diagnosed with cancer in 2018.
• A total of 1718 new cases have been reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of COVID 19 cases to 33,050 in India.
• T. S. Tirumurti has been appointed as the next Ambassador or Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations. He replaces Sayyad Akbaruddin.
• Former India football captain Chuni Goswami, who led India to the 1962 Asian Games gold, passed away in Kolkata after a prolonged illness.

29th April, Current Affairs:

• Renowned actor Irrfan Khan passed away in a Mumbai hospital after losing his battle with a rare form of cancer. He was 54.
• All Central government officials, including the outsourced workforce, have been directed to immediately download the Aarogya Setu App on their mobile phones.

27th April, Current Affairs:

• The King George Medical University in Uttar Pradesh has become the first government hospital in the country to successfully launch the plasma therapy treatment for the COVID-19 patients.
• The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) today noted that the States have been advised to stop using rapid antibody test kits procured from Guangzhou Wondfo Biotech and Zhuhai Livzon Diagnostics of China after it found wide variation in their sensitivity despite early promise of good performance for surveillance purpose.
• The French Grand Prix scheduled for June 28 was cancelled today due to the coronavirus pandemic.

26th April, Current Affairs:

• Retired IAS officer Sanjay Kothari took oath as Chief Vigilance Commissioner of India today.
• The first patient who was administered convalescent plasma therapy on compassionate grounds in Delhi has now fully recovered and was discharged today.
• The number of COVID-19 cases in the country has climbed to 26,496 while the death toll rose to 824.

24th April, Current Affairs:

• National Panchayati Raj Day is celebrated today. The day is also called National Local Self Government Day.
• Prime Minister launched the e-Gramswaraj Portal and Mobile app as a portal to prepare and plan Gram Panchayat Development Plans.
• India registered 1,752 new coronavirus cases today which is the biggest single-day spike since the beginning of the pandemic - taking the total to 23,452. The number of deaths rose to 723.

23rd April, Current Affairs:

• World Book Day is observed today.
• Lebanon became the first Arab country to legalize marijuana cultivation.
• World Earth Day was observed on 22nd April, 2020.

21st April, Current Affairs:

• Civil Services Day is observed today.
• Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) advised states not to use rapid testing kits for the next two days, saying it will issue an advisory after their teams carry out field validation of these equipment.

18th April, Current Affairs:

• World Heritage Day is observed today.
• The worldwide death toll from the novel coronavirus pandemic rose to 154,188. More than 2,251,690 declared cases have been registered in 193 countries and territories since the epidemic first emerged in China in December. The number of COVID-19 cases in India has climbed to 14,378 while the death toll rose to 480.

17th April, Current Affairs:

• RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced to slash the reverse repo rate from 4 per cent to 3.75 per cent while keeping the repo rate unchanged. He also announced 50,000 crore rupees booster package for small and medium-sized industries to recover from the lockdown.
• The Centre has permitted the export of formulations made from Paracetamol.
• Today is celebrated as World Hemophilia Day.

15th April, Current Affairs:

• The Centre today notified a new set of guidelines in light of the extension of the nationwide lockdown till 3rd of May.
• US President Donald Trump has announced that his administration will stop US funding for the World Health Organization (WHO) accusing for covering-up the spread of the novel coronavirus.
• The world's most famous cycling race Tour de France has been postponed in the wake of Corona virus pandemic.

14th April, Current Affairs:

• The Government has decided to extend lockdown till 3rd of May.
• Nation remembers Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar on his 129th birth anniversary today.
• All passenger train services of Indian Railways including Premium trains, Mail, Express, Passenger and Suburban Trains, Kolkata Metro Rail, Konkan Railway and other such passenger services will remain suspended till the midnight of 3rd May.

13th April, Current Affairs:

• The retail inflation based on Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 6.58% in February 2020 and 2.86% in March 2019.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi has greeted people on the occasion of Baisakhi today.

12th April, Current Affairs:

• Maharashtra, Telangana and West Bengal announce extension of lockdown till April 30.
• Easter is being celebrated across the globe today.
• The United States has overtaken Italy as the country with the highest number of deaths due to COVID-19 pandemic with the fatalities crossing 20,000.

11th April, Current Affairs:

• Most States today requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to extend the lockdown for two more weeks during the Video Conference chaired by Mr Modi.
• 1035 fresh confirmed cases of novel Coronavirus or COVID- 19 have been reported in the country in the last 24 hours taking the total number to 7447. Out of these, 642 patients have recovered and discharged from the hospitals, while 239 patients have died.

9th April, Current Affairs:

• The union government today sanctioned Rs 15,000 crore to strengthen the fight against the Covid-19 virus. The amount has been released towards the 'India Covid-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Package'.
• The Odisha government today announced it has extended the lockdown over the COVID-19 pandemic till April 30, becoming the first state to do so.
• Former Vice President Joe Biden is now the Democratic nominee for the American Presidential Race. Mr. Biden won the democratic nomination after US Senator Bernie Sanders has dropped out of the Presidential race.

8th April, Current Affairs:

• The Income Tax Department has announced that it will release all pending income tax refunds upto Rs 5 lakh immediately to help ease Covid-19 burden.
• The Supreme Court has ordered private medical labs across the country to not charge patients for testing for Covid 19.

7th April, Current Affairs:

• World Health Day is being observed today. It is celebrated on 7 April every year to mark the anniversary of the founding of World Health Organization.
• British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been shifted to intensive care unit (ICU) after his condition worsened.
• India today announced that it had rescinded its earlier ban on the export of malaria drug hydroxychloroquine (HCQ), which is now being used in countries such as the U.S. as a possible line of treatment for COVID-19.

6th April, Current Affairs:

• The salaries of Central ministers and Members of parliament - starting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be slashed by 30 per cent for the coming year in view of the coronavirus outbreak. The Cabinet has decided to suspend MPLAD fund for two years from 2020-2021 to 2021-2022. He said, an amount to the tune of 7900 crore rupees will be accumulated and deposited in the consolidated Fund of India to fight COVID-19.
• Mahavir Jayanti being celebrated across the country today.

5th April, Current Affairs:

• US President Donald Trump had requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to supply hydroxychloroquine tablets that can be used to treat COVID-19 patients.
• The number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases in the country has climbed to more than 3,500 today while the death toll rose to 77. The Coronavirus pandemic has killed more than 45,000 people in Europe, around 85 percent of them in Italy, Spain, France and Britain.
• The Olympic Council of Asia announced that the third Asian Youth Games is to be held in China in November 2021.

4th April, Current Affairs:

• 601 fresh confirmed cases of novel coronavirus or COVID- 19 have been reported in the country during last 24 hours taking the total number to 2902.
• The FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup to be held in India in November postponed by the football’s world governing body due to the worsening COVID-19 pandemic.

2nd April, Current Affairs:

• President Ram Nath Kovind, Vice President, M. Venkaiah Naidu, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and Information and Broadcasting Minister, Prakash Javadekar haveextented their greetings on the auspicious occasion of Ram Navami.
• Tony Lewis, one of the men behind the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method used in weather-affected limited overs cricket matches, has died aged 78.
• Wimbledon, the oldest Grand Slam tennis tournament, has been cancelled for the first time since World War-II because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
• World Autism Awareness Day is observed today.

1st April, Current Affairs:

• The International Olympic Committee and the Japanese organisers have decided to hold the Olympics from July 23 to August 8 in Tokyo next year.
• The Centre has defined new domicile rule for Jammu and Kashmir which includes those who have lived in the Union Territory for 15 years.