Daily Top-10 Current Affairs MCQs/News (May 06, 2020) for CSS, PMS

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May 06, 2020: National / International Current Affairs

1. Cabinet approves easing lockdown after May 9

• The federal cabinet on May 5, 2020 approved easing lockdown restrictions in the country gradually after May 9 to open earning facilities to workers and daily wage earners provided strict implementation of the coronavirus-related preventive measures suggested by the government is ensured.
• The National Coordination Committee (NCC) will meet on May 6, 2020 (today) in which the Centre and provinces will decide which businesses and industries will be reopened during the easing of restrictions.
• The cabinet also took another decision by approving a summary of the religious affairs ministry for not including Ahmadis in the National Commission for Minorities (NCM).

2. Pakistan becomes 29th country with 500 Covid-19 deaths

• While around 1,000 cases and over 20 deaths have been reported daily in the country during the last five days, in global ranking Pakistan has been ranked 24th in terms of most number of cases and has become 29th country in which over 500 deaths have been reported due to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19).
• Moreover in Asia, Pakistan has been ranked sixth in terms of most number of cases and eighth in terms of most number of deaths.
• According to data available on the website of the Ministry of National Health Services, the countries in which most number of deaths have been reported are: the United States with around 70,000 deaths, Italy over 29,000, United Kingdom over 28,000, Spain 25,000 and India more than 1,500 deaths.

3. System launched for digital monitoring of prisons

• As part of a jail reforms initiative, the Punjab government on May 5, 2020 launched prison management information system (PMIS) to `digitally monitor seven prisons throughout the province`, and promised to gradually expand it to all prisons in the province.
• Chief Minister Usman Buzdar inaugurated the system at a ceremony held at Civil Secretariat here on Tuesday. On the occasion, the CM was told that the new system will allow digital monitoring of prisoners, staff and other things.
• The scope of PMIS will be gradually expanded to all jails to maintain a digital record and monitoring of prisoners` movement and other activities during their confinement. Similarly, visitors` record will also be maintained.

4. Balochistan govt extends lockdown for two weeks

• The Balochistan government on May 5, 2020 extended lockdown across the province for another two weeks, keeping all inter-city and inter-province travel as well as shopping malls closed to prevent public gatherings in order to contain the spread of highly contagious coronavirus.
• The home and tribal affairs department of the provincial government notified that the lockdown that was to end on May 5 would continue till 12noon on May 19.
• The Balochistan government`s move drew appreciation of Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, whose party rules in neighbouring Sindh. He endorsed the view that the `only effective defence against coronavirus has proven to be isolation, social distancing and lockdown`

5. Amid COVID-19, Pak exports decline 54.19pc, imports 34.49pc in April

• Pakistan’s exports and imports have declined massively in April due to the outbreak of coronoavirus throughout the world.
• The country’s exports have reduced to $957 million in April 2020 from $2.089 billion in the same month of the previous year showing massive decline of 54.19 percent. According to the latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) the imports have also reduced by 34.49 percent to $3.088 billion in April this year from $4.714 billion in corresponding period of previous year. Pakistan’s trade deficit has shrunk to $2.131 billion in April 2020 as against $2.625 billion showing reduction of 18.82 percent.
• The PBS data showed that Pakistan’s trade deficit has reduced to $19.497 billion in ten months (July to April) of the current fiscal year (FY20) from $26.233 billion in corresponding period of last year registering reduction of 25.68 percent. Exports have declined by 3.92 percent to $18.408 billion in July-April period of FY20 from $19.16 billion in same period of previous year. Similarly, the imports have fallen by 16.5 percent to $37.905 billion in ten months of the current financial year from $45.393 billion in corresponding period of last year

6. China launches rocket, spacecraft prototype

• China on May 5, 2020 successfully launched a new rocket and prototype spacecraft, state media said, in a major test of the country`s ambitions to operate a permanent space station and send astronauts to the Moon.
• The Long March 5B rocket took off from the Wenchang launch site in the southern island of Hainan and eight minutes later an unmanned prototype spaceship successfully separated and entered its planned orbit, according to the Xinhua news agency.
• A test version of a cargo return capsule also successfully separated from the rocket, Xinhua added.
• The spaceship will one day transport astronauts to a space station that China plans to complete by 2022, and eventually to the Moon.
• It will have capacity for a crew of six.

7. Dutch scientists claim finding virus-fighting antibody

• An antibody that can stop the new coronavirus infecting cells in laboratory tests has been identified by researchers in the Netherlands, in what scientists say could help the development of therapies for Covid-19.
• The antibody neutralised the new coronavirus, according to the research published in Nature Communications, and the authors said it `offers the potential to prevent and/or treat Covid-19`.
• It has not yet been tested on animals or in human trials.
• Researchers from Utrecht University and the Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam injected cells of `humanised mice` with purified versions of the spike proteins used by different coronaviruses including the ones that cause SARS and MERS to infect cells.

8. Yemen`s south in turmoil after separatists` self-rule bid

• A bid by separatists funded by the United Arab Emirates to assert control over southern Yemen has reopened a dangerous new front in Yemen`s civil war and pushed it closer to fragmentation at a time when the coronavirus pandemic poses a growing threat.
• The separatists recent declaration of self-rule over the key port city of Aden and other southern provinces also further pits Saudi Arabia and the UA E on opposing sides in the conflict, now in its sixth year. A separatist leader made the declaration from the UA E a clear sign of its backing for the move.
• The two Gulf states had been partners in a coalition waging war against Iran-linked Houthi rebels who seized the northern part of Yemen in 2014.

9. UK becomes first country in Europe to record 30,000 deaths

• Britain became the first country in Europe on May 5, 2020 to confirm more than 30,000 coronavirus deaths, and infections rose sharply again in Russia, even as other nations made great strides in containing the scourge.
• In fact, the latest British statistics revealed that the country`s death toll had exceeded 30,000 as early as April 24 _ one-third higher than the count reported at the time. A comparable figure for Italy, hitherto the hardest-hit European country with over 29,000 deaths, was not available.
• Although Britain`s death toll is shockingly high, the rate of deaths and hospitalisation continue to decline and the government is preparing to take tentative steps out of lockdown.

10. Last month was warmest April on record: study

• Last month tied 2016 for the hottest April on record worldwide, with particularly high temperatures over Western Europe and north-central Asia, the European Union’s climate monitoring network said on May 5, 2020.
• Temperatures were also well above average over parts of Greenland and Antarctica, accelerating the disintegration of kilometres-thick ice sheets that have become the main drivers of sea level rise, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) reported.
• April 2020 was a statistically insignificant 0.01 degrees Celsius cooler than the same month in 2016, the warmest April registered since the late 19th century, when reliable records began.

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