Top Best Current Affairs 17 April 2020

The Central Government's mobile app, Aarogya Setu, has become the world's fastest app to reach 50 million downloads in just 13 days. The information was passed by the NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant on 15 April. The app was developed for tracking COVID-19 patients.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has announced a training program on COVID-19 from 17 April 2020 for healthcare professionals from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries.The training program is carried out by the Central government's Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) program.Also, India proposed setting up of a common electronic platform for all SAARC nations to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. All the SAARC countries will share expertise and best practices to jointly combat the spread of coronavirus.The ITEC Programme was established as per the decision of the Union Cabinet of India on 15 September 1964.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) proposed to release its full $1 trillion lending capacity to support countries that battle the COVID-19 outbreak. The IMF described the COVID-19 pandemic as a crisis like no other crisis ever. The announcement was made by the IMF head Kristalina Georgieva.The IMF Board has already approved debt relief for 25 of its poorest members due to the COVID-19 crisis.

North Korea launched multiple short-range anti-ship cruise missiles into the sea. Also, Sukhoi jets fired air-to-surface missiles as part of its ongoing military exercises. The information was passed by South Korea's military.

The Government of India has announced Spitting in public act a punishable offence under the strict Disaster Management Act in its revised guidelines for lockdown issued to contain COVID-19. The announcement was made by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in its revised guidelines.The guidelines also mandated the wearing of face masks in public places.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in its report on the Asia-Pacific region stated that Asia's economic growth in 2020 will grind to a halt for the first time in 60 years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, developed mobile application SAHYO, an Integrated Geospatial Platform out of available geospatial datasets, standards-based services, and analytic tools. The mobile application and the website prepared and managed by the Survey of India (SoI).The SAHYO aims to help decision making during the COVID-19 pandemic.It will provide the necessary geospatial information support to citizens and agencies dealing with the challenges related to socio-economic distress, health, and livelihood challenges.

RMS Titanic sank, which was carrying around 2000 passengers and crew, sank at 2.20 am on April 15, 1912. The British ocean liner had hit an iceberg about two and half hours before it sank in the North Atlantic Ocean, 400 miles south of Newfoundland, Canada.