National
Establishment of five 'Divyangta Khel Kendra'
⇒ The Union minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot has said that the ministry has decided to establish five ’Divyangta Khel Kendra’ in different parts of country, out of which Ahemdabad City is identified to open one of such facilities.
The Union minister said this while addressing the ‘Samajik Adhikarita Shivir’ for distribution of aids and assistive devices to ‘Divyangjan’ under the ADIP Scheme of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India in Jamnagar, Gujarat on 20 June 2021.
New software that helps identify ventilator support needs
⇒ A Software can now identify patients likely to require ventilator support in an ICU. Referring the patient in time will help in making necessary arrangements before an emergency.
This software is called Covid Severity Score (CSS) Software. It consists of an algorithm that measures the corona patients by a set of parameters.
It measures symptoms, signs, vital parameters, test reports and comorbidities of the COVID positive patient.
It scores each against a pre-set dynamic algorithm multiple times for each patient and allocates a Covid Severity Score (CSS) mapping it in a graphical trend.
The Foundation For Innovations In Health, Kolkata with support from the ‘Science for Equity, Empowerment and Development’ (SEED) division of the Department of Science & Technology has developed this algorithm.
The technology is being used in three community Covid care centres at Kolkata.
SENSIT Rapid COVID-19 Ag Kit
⇒ Under the aegis of COVID-19 Research Consortium, Department of Biotechnology- Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (DBT-BIRAC) supported product ‘SENSIT Rapid COVID-19 Ag kit’ has been developed by Ubio Biotechnology Systems Pvt Ltd.
SENSIT Rapid COVID-19 Ag Kit has been developed for qualitative detection of SARS CoV-2 Nucleocapsid Protein with an assay time of 15 minutes. The samples are collected using nasopharyngeal swabs from the suspected individual.
SBI Aarogyam healthcare business loan
⇒ Recently, State Bank of India has launched the Aarogyam healthcare business loan to provide enhanced support to the healthcare sector amid the pandemic.
Under this new product, entire healthcare ecosystem such as hospitals, nursing homes, diagnostic centres, pathology labs, manufacturers, suppliers, importers, logistic firms engaged in critical healthcare supply can avail of loans up to Rs 100 crore repayable in 10 years.
International
Two-day summit on Green Hydrogen initiatives
⇒ India hosted a two-day summit on Green Hydrogen initiatives involving the BRICS nations on June 22-23, 2021.
Summit’s Anchor:
The event was anchored by India’s largest power producer and one of the global energy majors, NTPC Ltd, a Maharatna CPSU under Ministry of Power.
Discussion:
During the virtual summit, the best brains, policy makers and major stakeholders from the BRICS nations deliberated and discussed at length the future of Hydrogen in the energy mix.
» On the first Day, the representatives from each country shared the respective initiatives undertaken by their countries on utilization of hydrogen and their future plans.
» On the second day, there were panel discussions on ideas integrating hydrogen in overall energy policy framework by different countries.
The online event saw leading experts from the Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (BRICS) countries who shared their insights and professional views on the subject as well as the latest developments going on in their countries in the area of green hydrogen.
Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) 2020
⇒ The Global Cybersecurity Index (GCI) 2020 was launched by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on June 29, 2021. This was the fourth edition of the Global Cybersecurity Index. 194 countries were measured to show GCI results.
Rank of India:
» India has been ranked 10th globally with an overall score of 97.5 points.
» India has secured the fourth position with an overall score of 97.49 in the Asia Pacific region.