Canada pulls out of Tokyo Olympics over coronavirus fears

Canada became the first major country to pull out of the Tokyo Olympics over coronavirus fears. Australia has also directed its athletes to prepare for the 2021 games, as it could not be held this year. Earlier, the Prime Minister ..

SBI unveils emergency credit line for borrowers amid coronavirus outbreak

India’s largest lender State Bank of India has recently unveiled an emergency credit line to meet liquidity mismatch for its borrowers, amid the coronavirus pandemic scare. The additional liquidity facility called Covid-19 Emergency Credit Line (CECL) will provide credit up ..

Bihar Day events postponed due to coronavirus

Bihar Day (Bihar Sthapana Diwas) is celebrated in the state of Bihar on March 22, every year. It marks the anniversary of the date of formation of the state, when the British bifurcated it from the then Bengal region. Every ..

SAARC Disaster Management Centre launches website for information related to COVID-19

The SAARC Disaster Management Centre has recently launched a website for information related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the region. The website shows the number of coronavirus cases in the SAARC member states with live updates on the count of ..

Indore deploys drones to fight coronavirus

The city of Indore of Madhya Pradesh has become the first city in the country to deploy drones to sanitize city areas against the coronavirus outbreak by sprinkling chemicals. The Municipal Corporation of Indore has hired two drones for sprinkling ..

Sri Lanka pledges $5 million to COVID-19 SAARC Emergency Fund

Recently, Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has pledged 5 Million US dollars to the COVID-19 SAARC Emergency fund, which was proposed by Prime minister Narendra Modi. This Emergency Fund will as a security blanket for the SAARC countries, which can ..

S&P estimates COVID-19 cost to be $620 billion for 14 Asia-Pacific countries

International ratings agency S&P Global Ratings has recently estimated the cost of COVID-19 outbreak for 14 Asia-Pacific countries at $620 billion. Though a country-wise break-up was not provided for its estimate, it said that the total and permanent income loss ..

High-level committee of medical experts set up for prevention & control of COVID-19

The Government of India has recently constituted a high-level committee of medical experts for prevention & control of COVID-19. The committee is headed by Dr V K Paul, a member of the India think-tank NITI Aayog. The 21-member high level ..

Fitch Ratings cuts India’s growth forecast to 5.1% for FY 2020-21

Fitch Ratings has recently cut India growth forecast to 5.1 per cent for FY 2020-21.  Fitch had projected India to grow at 5.6 per cent in 2020-21 and 6.5 per cent in the following year, in its previous report released ..

Greece hands over Olympic flame to Tokyo 2020 organisers

In a ceremony at iconic Panathenaic stadium of Athens, Greece has handed over the Olympic flame to Tokyo 2020 organisers. The ceremony did not include the planned cultural ceremonies from Greece or Japan, due to COVID-19 pandemic. The Governing Olympic ..