In the following question a short passage is given with one of the lines in…

2026

In the following question a short passage is given with one of the lines in the passage missing and represented by a blank. Select the best out of the four answer choices given, to make the passage complete and coherent.

Taking note of the World Health Organisation (WHO) categorising India as a site of active transmission of the Zika virus, the United States has sent out an advisory informing its citizens in India about the number of confirmed Zika infections in India. The WHO, it noted, placed India as a 'Category-2' country for Zika risk.____________________________________. Until April of this year i.e 2017, India was a Category-4 country, which indicates that it was much safer in the scale which has 4 points. The advisory clarified that the U.S. itself did not see its citizens in India at greater risk for contracting the mosquito-borne infection than from March 2017. It, however, maintains that pregnant women ought not to be traveling to the country.

  1. A.

    There are a total of 5 categories.

  2. B.

    India needs to take measures in order to prevent going into Category 3.

  3. C.

    A Category-2 indicates that the virus is being actively transmitted within the country.

  4. D.

    Category 2 rules out the probability of any tourists being able to enter the country.

Attempted by 35 students.

Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: C

In a sentence-insertion / passage-completion question, the missing line must do two things at once: follow logically from the sentence right before the blank, and set up what the passage says right after it -- without adding a new fact that the rest of the passage does not support.

  1. The sentence right before the blank states that the WHO placed India in the 'Category-2' bracket for Zika risk.

  2. The sentence right after the blank states that until April 2017 India was a 'Category-4' country, which it calls 'much safer,' on a scale that runs to 4 points.

  3. For that comparison to make sense, the missing line must first explain what a 'Category-2' rating actually means.

  4. The value stating that a Category-2 rating marks active transmission of the virus within the country supplies exactly that missing definition, so the following 'safer at Category-4' statement follows naturally as a contrast on the same risk scale.

  • The claim that the scale contains 5 categories directly contradicts the passage's own later line describing 'the scale which has 4 points,' so it cannot be the coherent bridge.

  • The recommendation that India take measures to avoid Category 3 introduces a forward-looking policy suggestion that nothing before or after the blank sets up; the surrounding text is reporting a classification and a travel advisory, not prescribing action.

  • The claim that Category 2 rules out tourists entering the country is never supported anywhere else in the passage; the advisory that follows cautions only pregnant women against travel, with no blanket entry ban.

The sentence that defines what a 'Category-2' rating means is the one that keeps the passage complete and coherent.

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