Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda tests positive for COVID-19
•Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda informed on March 31, 2021 that he and his wife have tested positive for COVID-19 and were self-isolating.
•He requested all those who had come in contact with them over the last few days to get themselves tested. The 87-year-old also requested his party workers not to panic.
•HD Deve Gowda is the leader of the Janata Dal-Secular party in Karnataka.
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi was among those who wished the veteran leader and his wife a speedy recovery.
Three Rafale jets to reach Gujarat today
•Three Rafale combat aircrafts are expected to reach Jamnagar airbase in Gujarat from France this evening. The fighter jets will be flown over directly from France with the support of mid-air refueling provided by United Arab Emirates (UAE) Air Force’s Airbus 330 multi-role transport tankers over the Gulf of Oman.
•The three aircraft will join the Golden Arrows Squadron stationed at Ambala Air Force station. The arrival of the fighter jets will increase the number of India's Rafale fleet to 14.
•The three fighter aircraft had taken off from Merignac airbase in France’s Bordeaux at 7 am this morning and are likely to reach Gujarat by 7 pm.
•With more Rafales set to join the Indian Air Force later this month, the IAF is set to raise another second squadron of the Rafale combat aircraft in mid-April.
Peru Presidential Elections to be held on April 11
•The Presidential Elections are scheduled to take place in Peru on April 11, 2021. Strict social distancing rules have been put in place to protect the voters amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
•The head of Peru's National Office of Electoral Processes, Piero Corvetto stated that there is no risk of holding the elections as elections were held in 88 countries amid the pandemic while complying with all COVID protocols.
•He further stated that with proper health and safety measures in place, the elections should pose no risk in terms of viral transmission.
•So far, Peru has registered 1,529,882 confirmed Covid-19 cases and 51,635 deaths.
New York lawmakers pass bill to legalize use of marijuana by adults
•The New York lawmakers have passed a bill to legalize the use of marijuana by adults. This will make New York the 15th state in the United States to allow recreational use of the drug.
•New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement on March 30, 2021 that the city has a storied history of being the progressive capital of the nation and the important legislation will once again carry on that legacy.
•The decision was also welcomed by pro-marijuana groups, as thousands of New Yorkers are arrested every year over petty marijuana offenses, of whom most are young, poor and people of colour.
WHO calls for further studies on origin of COVID-19
•The World Health Organization (WHO) recently released a report on global tracing of COVID-19 origins, in which it called for further studies on the origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
•The health organisation reiterated that all hypotheses remain open on the issue, reopening the Chinese lab-leak theory pushed by former US President Donald Trump.
•WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that data was withheld from WHO investigators who had gone to China to research the origins of the virus. The report of the international team had said that it is highly unlikely that the virus had leaked from Chinese labs but instead it had probably jumped from bats to human through an intermediary animal.
•However, the WHO Chief said that the visiting team expressed the difficulties in accessing raw data and that he does not believe that the assessment by the panel of experts was enough as he called for further researches to have more robust conclusions.
•The coronavirus was first detected in Wuhan, in China's Hubei province in late 2019.
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