Facts in News

Facts in News

H10N3 Bird Flu Strain

• It appears to be rare in birds and does not cause severe disease according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
• There was no indication of human-to-human transmission yet.

• Risks
  • The risk of further infection with H10N3 is currently believed to be very low, with experts describing the case as “sporadic”.
  • Such cases occur occasionally in China which has huge populations of both farmed and wild birds of many species.

Avian influenza viruses

• It is a highly infectious and severe respiratory disease in birds caused by the H5N1 influenza virus, Type A strain of influenza virus.
• In total, 16 types of bird flu are there, of which H5N1 strain is considered the deadliest.
• H5N1 consists of two types of proteins:
  • H5 stands for the fifth of several known types of the protein hemagglutinin.
  • N1 stands for the first of several known types of the protein neuraminidase.

• Spread & Transmission:Infected birds shed avian flu in their saliva, mucus, and poop, and humans can get infected when enough of the virus gets in the eyes, nose, or mouth, or is inhaled from infected droplets or dust.

Sinovac COVID-19 Vaccine

• The World Health Organisation (WHO)  validated the Sinovac-CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, giving countries, funders, procuring agencies and communities the assurance that it meets international standards for safety, efficacy and manufacturing.
• The vaccine is produced by the Beijing(China)-based pharmaceutical company Sinovac.
• It is an inactivated vaccine.
  • It works by using killed viral particles to expose the body’s immune system to the virus without risking a serious disease response.
• Its easy storage requirements make it very manageable and particularly suitable for low-resource settings.
• In the case of the Sinovac-CoronaVac vaccine, the WHO assessment included on-site inspections of the production facility.

Significance 

• It prevented symptomatic disease in 51% of those vaccinated and prevented severe symptoms and hospitalisation in 100% of samples.
• The approval opens the door for the jab to be used in the Covax programme, which aims to ensure fair access to vaccines.

Emergency Use Listing (EUL)

• WHO’s Emergency Use Listing (EUL) is a prerequisite for COVAX Facility vaccine supply and international procurement.
•  It also allows countries to expedite their own regulatory approval to import and administer COVID-19 vaccines. 

• The EUL assesses the quality, safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, as well as risk management plans and programmatic suitability, such as cold chain requirements. 
• The assessment is performed by the product evaluation group, composed by regulatory experts from around the world and a Technical Advisory Group (TAG), in charge of performing the risk-benefit assessment for an independent recommendation on whether a vaccine can be listed for emergency use and, if so, under which conditions.

• WHO has already listed the Pfizer/BioNTech, Astrazeneca-SK Bio, Serum Institute of India, AstraZeneca EU, Janssen, Moderna and Sinopharm vaccines for emergency use.

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Technology

• LEO satellites have been orbiting the planet since the 1990s, providing companies and individuals with various communication services.
• They are positioned around 500km-2000km from earth, compared to stationary orbit satellites which are approximately 36,000km away. 
• As LEO satellites orbit closer to the earth, they are able to provide stronger signals and faster speeds than traditional fixed-satellite systems.

Low Earth orbit (LEO)

• A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit that is relatively close to Earth’s surface.
•  It is normally at an altitude of less than 1000 km but could be as low as 160 km above Earth – which is low compared to other orbits, but still very far above Earth’s surface.

• By comparison, most commercial aeroplanes do not fly at altitudes much greater than approximately 14 km, so even the lowest LEO is more than ten times higher than that.

• Unlike satellites in GEO that must always orbit along Earth’s equator,
  • LEO satellites do not always have to follow a particular path around Earth in the same way – their plane can be tilted. 
  • This means there are more available routes for satellites in LEO, which is one of the reasons why LEO is a very commonly used orbit.
• LEO’s close proximity to Earth makes it useful for several reasons. 
  • It is the orbit most commonly used for satellite imaging, as being near the surface allows it to take images of higher resolution.
  •  It is also the orbit used for the International Space Station (ISS), as it is easier for astronauts to travel to and from it at a shorter distance.

Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST)

Recently, China’s Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) has set a new record after it ran at 120 million ^oC for 101 seconds.

• The sun’s core only reaches about 15 million ^oC, meaning the reactor was able to touch temperatures that are 10 times hotter than that.
• It is a significant step in the country’s quest to unlock clean and limitless energy, with minimal waste products.
• EAST is an advanced nuclear fusion experimental research device located at the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (ASIPP) in Hefei, China.
  • It is one of three major domestic tokamaks, apart from HL-2A and J-TEXT.
• Aim: To replicate the process of nuclear fusion, a reaction that powers the sun.
  • Nuclear fusion is a process through which high levels of energy are produced without generating large quantities of waste. 
  • Previously, energy was produced through nuclear fission, a process in which the nucleus of a heavy atom was split into two or more nuclei of lighter atoms.
• The EAST project is part of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) facility, which will become the world’s largest nuclear fusion reactor when it becomes operational in 2035.
  • It also includes contributions from several countries like India, South Korea, Japan, Russia and the US.
• In 2020, South Korea’s KSTAR reactor set a new record by maintaining a plasma temperature of over 100 million ^oC for 20 seconds.

China’s Red Tourism

The Chinese Communist Party is celebrating its 100^th anniversary in 2021 and the popularity of red tourism is at an all-time high in the country.

• It refers to visiting sites which have a modern revolutionary legacy and involves places that are of historical and cultural importance for Communist Party.
• It was launched in 2004 with an aim to promote such locations and also to provide an impetus to tourism and local businesses.
• Major Places Covered
  • Yan’an: Mao Zedong’s revolutionary base area where Red Army arrived after Long March.
  • Shaoshan: Birthplace of Mao; 
  • Jinggangshan: Party members established their first rural base for the revolution in 1927. 
  • Nanchang: Capital city of Jiangxi Province which witnessed the Uprising in 1927 led by Zhou Enlai and He Long (China’s supreme commander).
  • Jinggang Mountain in Jiangxi Province: Revolution led by Communist Party of China began in October 1927.
• Significance
  • Successful strategy of promoting tourist products with new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) to attract youth.
  • Helped tourism-recovery post-pandemic.
  • Supports ancillary businesses.
• Criticism: More than fostering spirit of research and academic scholarship in history, ideological indoctrination is at the heart of this project.

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

• It is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation.
• Its creation was announced on 15^th June 2001 in Shanghai (China) by Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and was preceded by the Shanghai Five mechanism.
  • India and Pakistan became members in 2017.
  • Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia are observer states.
• The SCO Charter was signed in June 2002 and entered into force on 19^th September 2003.
  • This is the fundamental statutory document which outlines the organisation’s goals and principles, as well as its structure and core activities.
• Aims
  • Strengthen mutual trust and neighbourliness.
  • Promote effective cooperation in politics, economy, technology, culture, education, tourism, environmental protection, etc.
  • Maintain and ensure peace, security and stability in the region.
• The Heads of State Council (HSC) is the supreme decision-making body, which meets once a year.
• Its chairmanship rotates on a yearly basis and Tajikistan is the chair for 2021.
• Official Languages: Russian and Chinese.
• Two Permanent Bodies: SCO Secretariat, Beijing and Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), Tashkent.

Telangana Statehood Day (2^nd June)

Recently, the Prime Minister of India has greeted the people of Telangana on its Statehood Day.

• On 2^nd June 2014, Telangana was separated from Andhra Pradesh, with 10 districts and Hyderabad as its capital.
• The bifurcation process was carried out under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
  • Andhra state was the first linguistic state of India, formed under the Andhra State Act, 1953, taking out the Telugu speaking areas from the State of Madras (now Tamil Nadu).
  • The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 merged the Telugu-speaking areas of Hyderabad state with Andhra, creating Andhra Pradesh.