The National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) to select students for MBBS and BDS courses will be held on September 12 instead of August 1 in view of Covid-19 cases that are still very high in many states.

The application process will begin from 5pm on Tuesday on the National Testing Agency (NTA) website, a media release issued by the Press Information Bureau said.

Face masks will be provided to all candidates at the exam centre and there will be staggered time slots for entry and exit.

The NEET will be held in 198 cities against 155 cities last year.

Nearly 14 lakh students appear for the test for around 80,000 MBBS seats and 32,000 BDS seats in the country.

Last week, the NTA had announced that the remaining two rounds of the Joint Entrance Examination-Main to select students for admission to BTech courses in NITs would be held from July 20. The third session has been scheduled from July 20 to July 25 while the fourth round will be held from July 27 to August 2. Both the rounds were scheduled in April and May.

The NTA has already held two rounds. A student can appear in all four rounds and the best performance will be considered for selection.

The top 2.5 lakh scorers are allowed to take the JEE-Advanced test for admission into IITs.