# Covid-19

• Prime minister Narendra Modi on tuesday urged the states only to resort to lockdowns as an absolute last resort.

• Covaxin maker Bharat biotech on tuesday said it has scaled up manufacturing capacity to annually produce 700 million doses of the covid-19 vaccine.

• Supreme court has stayed the Allahabad high court order which directed UP government to force lockdown in 5 major cities.

# PM’s Europe trip

• With an uncontrollable surge of covid-19 cases in India, PM Modi has cancelled his travel to europe next month.

• In this important visit India and EU were also expected to discuss progress on long pending bilateral trade and investment agreement (BTIA).

# EPFO

• The employees’ provident fund organisation (EPFO) on tuesday said it had recorded a net addition of 12.37 lakh subscribers in february.

• Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, EPFO  has added around 69.58 lakh net subscribers during the current financial year.

• The data reflects growth of 3.52% in net subscribers addition in february 2021 over january 2021.

# US’s vaccine inputs ban

• The Biden administration has denied that there are any “outright ban” on the export of vaccine raw materials.

• The denial comes in response to an appeal by vaccine manufacturer SII owner’s to Biden, asking him to lift an embargo on exports.

• SII uses bio reactor bags, filters, micro carrier beads etc. that are imported from USA.

# International space station

• Russia’s space agency said on tuesday it hoped to launch its own orbital station in 2025.

• Russia is withdrawing from the International space station.

• Currently, ISS is a collaborative effort of US, Canada, Japan, Russia and EU.