In a notification issued today, on August 16, the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry restricted the export of COVID19 rapid antigen test.
The notification issued by the ministry’s Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) stated that the export has been restricted with immediate effect.
Antigen tests are relatively inexpensive as compared to other tests like RT-PCR and nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) which are more accurate but take longer time to detect a person infected with COVID19.
Meanwhile, India recorded 32,937 fresh COVID19 cases and 417 deaths due in the last 24 hours, according to the latest data released by the Union Health Ministry.
The five states which have registered the highest number of cases are Kerala with 18,582 cases, followed by Maharashtra with 4,797 cases, Tamil Nadu with 1,896 cases, Andhra Pradesh with 1,506 cases and Karnataka with 1,431 cases.
Delhi reports lowest cases since April 15
Meanwhile, the national capital today, reported 27 fresh COVID19 cases — lowest since April 15. The number of total active cases in Delhi is 467.
