Facts in News

                                Facts in News

Dutch Indian Water Alliance for Leadership Initiative (DIWALI)         

• In order to find solutions for water-related challenges a platform called DIWALI has been developed in which India and Netherlands can participate in designing a solution for water challenges.
• The consortium of experts from the two counties would explore the potential and sustainability of Dutch Solutions to resolve issues in specific water challenged sites in India which are scalable, sustainable and affordable.
• It is being led by
  • The Dutch consortia titled “Water for Change. Integrative and Fit-for-Purpose Water Sensitive Design Framework for Fast-Growing Livable Cities”
  • IIT Roorkee along with other consortia members named MANIT, Bhopal; CEPT University, Ahmedabad; IIT Gandhinagar; CWRDM, Calicut.

Guinea Ebola Outbreak

• The Ministry of Health (MoH) of Guinea informed WHO of a cluster of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) cases in the sub-prefecture of Gouécké, Nzérékoré Region, Guinea.
  • The cases showed symptoms of diarrhoea, vomiting and bleeding.

• The World Food Programme is providing crucial logistical support by setting up special flights to transport the vaccines and other supplies to Guinea.

Ebola Virus Disease (EVD)

• It is formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever, is a rare but severe, often fatal illness in humans.
• The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and spreads in the human population through human-to-human transmission (Zoonotic disease).
• It is thought that fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family are natural Ebola, virus hosts.
• Symptoms
  • Fever, fatigue, muscle, pain, headache, and sore throat.
  • This is followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, symptoms of impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases internal and external bleeding.
• Measures –
  • Community engagement is key to successfully controlling outbreaks.
  • Supportive care – rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids – and treatment of specific symptoms improve survival.
  •  A range of potential treatments including blood products, immune therapies and drug therapies are currently being evaluated.

H5N8

• Russia reported the first case of transmission of the H5N8 strain of avian flu to humans and had alerted the World Health Organization.
  • Recently, samples of Crows from Maharashtra’s Beed district were found positive for the H5N8 strain in January.

H5N8 Bird Flu

•  The H5N8 is a sub-type of the Influenza A virus that causes flu-like symptoms in birds and poultry.
• It is deadly for birds and is not lethal for humans.
• Other strains – H5N1, H7N9 and H9N2 – have been known here) to spread to humans.
• Outbreaks of the strain have been reported in Russia, Europe, China, the Middle East and north Africa in recent months, but only in poultry.

Solar ‘Gigawatt Club’

• Nations with an installed capacity to produce 1 GW of solar power form the ‘Gigawatt Club’, an unofficial tag.
• Of the 37 countries that are part of the solar ‘Gigawatt Club’, only two- South Africa and Egypt- are from Africa.
• Nine more African countries ramping up solar capacity may become part of Gigawatt Club.
  • Algeria may be the third as it is showing the fastest progress.
  • Other countries are Zimbabwe, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Namibia, Ethiopia, Morocco and Botswana.
• Nearly half the world’s population without access to electricity (591 million) is in sub-Saharan Africa, according to the International Energy Association.
• The first annual African Solar Energy Outlook 2021 report was released by the Africa Solar Industry Association (AFSIA) on February 16, 2021.
• As per AFSIA report
  • New and more flexible technologies brought to market along with drastic cost reductions of both solar panels and storage solutions have supported solar boom in Africa
  • Western Africa is leading the drive.
  • Green Hydrogen produced from Solar Energy can be another game-changer in the solar future of Africa.
  • Africa is likely to emerge as a global hub for the production and export of green hydrogen.

Mount Etna

• Recently,  Mt Etna’s  lava fountain soared to 1,500 metres.
• Situated in Sicily in Italy, it is Europe’s Most Active Volcano.
• According to volcanologists, Etna is spewing Primitive Magma,
  • Primitive Magma is a term that refers to types of magma whose composition has changed little, compared with that of the Earth’s mantle where they formed.
  • It is a deeper magma that comes from the bowels of the mountain and carries a greater charge of gas.
  • For this reason, it is capable of producing strikingly tall lava fountains. (Nearly 1500m tall Lava Fountain was seen where in the 1700s, a height of even 3000km was seen.)
• Etna’s geological characteristics indicate that it has been active since the end of the Neogene Period (i.e., for about the past 2.6 million years).