? During the 21 days nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19, pharmacists, popularly known as “Swasth ke Sipahi” of Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Kendra are delivering essential services and medicines at doorstep of patients and elderly.

? Odisha has become the first state to extend the lockdown till April 30, 2020. Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik urged the centre also to extend the lockdown till then. The Odisha CM also requested the centre not to start air and rail services before April 30.

? Small Industries Development Bank of India will facilitate Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises with emergency working capital of up to Rs 1 crore against their confirmed government orders.

? Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani is the top-ranked Indian in the Forbes 2020 list of billionaires. The Reliance Industries Chairman was ranked 17th in the recent Forbes list of top billionaires in the world.

? The Ministry of Human Resource Development has designated DigiLocker as the sole National Academic Depository (NAD).

? Jeff Bezos is ranked at the top in the Forbes latest list of world’s top Billionaires of the year. The Amazon CEO has a net worth of about $124.7b as of April 9, 2020.

? The United States has announced $2.9 million aid for India through the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

? Chief Executive Officer of Twitter, Jack Dorsey has pledged to donate $1 billion to charities working towards combatting the global COVID-19 pandemic.

? Former US Vice President, Joe Biden has become the Democratic nominee for the US Presidential Elections 2020, after Senator Bernie Sanders dropped out from the race on April 8, 2020. Biden will now take on Trump in the Elections.

? The Union Government has announced the launch of a learning platform for all frontline healthcare professionals to equip them to train themselves in coping with the COVID-19 pandemic. The platform -IGot- has been launched for doctors, nurses, paramedics, hygiene workers and others involved in healthcare to prepare them for the subsequent stages of the pandemic.

? Air Canada has said that it will rehire around 16,500 employees, who were laid off because of the Coronavirus pandemic. The step has been taken under a government relief package for businesses.

? The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) introduced America’s first astronauts on April 9, 1959. The astronauts were all military test pilots, carefully selected from a group of 32 candidates to take part in America’s first manned space program, Project Mercury.