Current Affairs for SSC CGL Exams - 12 January 2021

SSC CGL Current Affairs

::NATIONAL::

The vaccine for coronavirus disease (Covid-19) reached the respective regional hubs on Tuesday ahead of the launch of nationwide vaccination on January 16.
As many as 5.6 million doses of Covishield, the vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), will be delivered across 13 cities today. SII's chief executive officer (CEO) Adar Poonawalla said the first 100 million doses of Covishield is being provided to the government at ₹200 after which the price will be increased to ₹1000.
The first consignment of the vaccines rolled out of the Serum Institute of India facility in Pune early Tuesday and reached landed at Delhi airport at 10 am.
Bharat Biotech, which has received Emergency Use Authorisation approval from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for its Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin, is set to dispatch it from the Rajv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad on Tuesday evening. Covaxin is indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)-National Institute of Virology (NIV).
The first batch of Covishield vaccine vials reached Delhi's central storage facility at Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty Hospital (RGSSH) Tuesday afternoon, news agency PTI reported. The Delhi Police had formed a "green corridor" from the airport to the hospital to safely transport the vials to the hospital. A special cold storage facility has been created at RGSSH to store the vaccine vials.

Experts said FDI cap on insurance company was first raised from 26% to 49% in March 2016, but it did not enthuse foreign investors who wanted management control with at least a 51% stake.
The government may remove several procedural impediments in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI), and allow up to a 74% overseas stake in the insurance sector as it prepares a Budget that is counting on FDI emerging as a major source of non-debt finance, two officials close to the development said.
The FDI policy is under review to increase inflows of foreign investment. Some sectors such as financial technology, financial services and insurance have huge potential to attract greater overseas investment and the Budget, to be unveiled on February 1, could contain policy directives facilitating FDI in various areas, the officials said, requesting anonymity.
The Budget for fiscal year 2021-22 is expected to focus on reviving economic growth, which was battered by the nationwide lockdown imposed on March 25 to check the spread of Covid-19. As a result, the Indian economy contracted by 23.9% and 7.5% in the quarters ending June and September; according to the first advanced estimate by the National Statistical Office (NSO), GDP is expected to contract by 7.7% in fiscal 2020-21.

The agreement with AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford, currently the nation’s biggest vaccine supplier, will also allow local production through technology transfer.
The Southeast Asian nation, battling its biggest wave of coronavirus infections since the pandemic began, will start with doses from Sinovac Biotech Ltd.
once the Thai Food and Drug Administration approves it, according to the Health Ministry.
By April, it plans to complete distribution of two million Sinovac shots to healthcare and front-line workers, people with underlying conditions and those over the age 60.
Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-Ocha’s government has approved purchase of a total of 63 million doses and the National Vaccine Institute is in talks with several manufacturers for additional supplies for delivery as early as this quarter.

The four test pilots of the Indian Air Force, chosen for India's first manned mission to space, have been undergoing training at the Yu.A. Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Training Centre near Moscow since February last year.
Two flight surgeons will soon fly to Russia where they will get hands-on experience in space medicine from their Russian counterparts for the Gaganyaan mission, an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)
The flight surgeons are doctors from the Indian Air Force who have specialised in aerospace medicine.
“The flight surgeons will leave soon. They will get hands-on training with flight surgeons in Russia,” the official said.
Training of astronauts is a critical aspect of the human space mission project. Fight surgeons are responsible for astronauts' health before, during and after a flight.
The flight surgeons will also get to train with the prospective astronauts, the official said.

India badminton star KidambiSrikanth alleged poor treatment from the health officials at the Thailand Open in Bangkok.
It a tweet that he shared on Tuesday, he showed a bleeding nose and said that he has taken 4 Covid-19 tests and the experience has never been pleasant.