11 August 2024

• Paris Olympics: India's campaign at the 2024 Paris Games concluded with six medals: one silver (Neeraj Chopra, javelin) and five bronze. Manu Bhaker became the first Indian to win two medals at a single Olympic edition.
• Bangladesh: the new interim government under Muhammad Yunus was settling in. Security forces were dealing with continued protests in Dhaka and other cities.
• Health: World Health Organisation declared monkeypox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern for the second time in two years, following the emergence of a new strain (clade Ib) spreading in Central Africa.
• Economy: India's monthly banking sector data showed continued growth in credit to the MSME sector, a priority lending category.

GS area: Sports, Society

India's Olympic campaign ended on 11 August with the closing ceremony. The final tally and its significance:

• Total medals: six. One silver and five bronze. Positioned India 71st on the overall medal table.
• Neeraj Chopra: silver medal in men's javelin throw. Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem won gold with a new Olympic record of 92.97 metres. Chopra threw 89.45 metres. Chopra had won gold at Tokyo 2020, making him India's first back-to-back Olympic medallist in athletics.
• Manu Bhaker: two bronze medals: women's 10m air pistol and mixed team 10m air pistol (with Sarabjot Singh). First Indian woman to win a shooting medal at the Olympics. First Indian to win two medals at a single Games edition.
• Swapnil Kusale: bronze in men's 50m rifle three positions. India's third shooting medal.
• Men's hockey team: bronze, defeating Spain. India has won the most Olympic gold medals in field hockey (8). The last gold was at Moscow 1980. Bronze at Paris follows bronze at Tokyo 2020.
• Aman Sehrawat: bronze in men's freestyle wrestling 57 kg. Youngest Indian Olympic medallist at age 21.
• Olympic facts: Games were held in Paris from 26 July to 11 August 2024. India sent 117 athletes across 16 sports.
• International Olympic Committee: founded 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin. Headquarters: Lausanne, Switzerland.

Static linkage: India's Olympic history, international sports bodies.

GS area: Health, International Relations

The World Health Organisation declared monkeypox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 14 August 2024 (the full announcement came shortly after 11 August). The details are recorded here for the 11 August context:

• Previous PHEIC: WHO declared monkeypox a PHEIC in July 2022, during a multi-country outbreak. That was lifted in May 2023.
• New driver: a new viral strain, clade Ib, emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It spreads differently from clade IIb (which caused the 2022 outbreak): it appears to be spreading through general household contact and not primarily through sexual contact. This makes it harder to contain through targeted interventions.
• Global case count: 99,176 cases and 208 deaths across 116 countries since 2022.
• India's exposure: India has reported at least 27 laboratory-confirmed cases and one death since 2022.
• PHEIC criteria: WHO's International Health Regulations (2005) defines a PHEIC as an extraordinary event constituting a public health risk through international spread and potentially requiring a coordinated international response.
• Testing: polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is the diagnostic method for confirming monkeypox.
• Disease: a zoonotic virus from the Orthopoxvirus genus. Related to smallpox. Transmitted by close contact with infected animals or humans. Causes fever, rash and lymph node swelling.

Static linkage: WHO, international health regulations, disease surveillance.

• Field hockey Olympic record: India has won 8 Olympic gold medals in field hockey, the most of any country. The last gold was at Moscow 1980. Subsequent results: bronze at Los Angeles 1984, then no medals until Tokyo 2020 (bronze) and Paris 2024 (bronze). India's hockey dominance spanned 1928 to 1980.
• Paris 2024 host city significance: Paris previously hosted the Games in 1900 and 1924. The 1924 Paris Games were the first to use the Olympic motto "Citius, Altius, Fortius" (Faster, Higher, Stronger). Framing the 2024 Games in the same city bookended the modern Olympic century.
• Monkeypox clade Ib versus clade IIb: the 2022 global outbreak was driven by clade IIb, primarily spreading through sexual contact among men who have sex with men. The 2024 emergency involves clade Ib in Central Africa, which has broader household transmission. This distinction matters for public health responses.
• Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem: the javelin thrower who won gold at Paris with 92.97 metres also set a new Olympic record. The context for India-Pakistan sporting encounters in individual athletics at the Olympics is a rare and recurring interest point.