The Indian government on Saturday put curbs on exports of COVID-19 diagnostic kits with a view to discourage shipments amid the coronavirus outbreak.
"The export of diagnostic kits (diagnostic or laboratory reagents on a backing, preparation diagnostic or laboratory reagents)... is restricted with immediate effect," the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) said in a notification.
The move would help in dealing with the COVID-19 crisis as these kits are required for testing of patients.
Earlier, exports of these products were allowed without any restrictions. Putting them under the restricted category would mean that an exporter will now require a licence from the DGFT for outbound shipments.
The number of deaths around the world linked to novel coronavirus crossed 60,000 on Saturday, according to the data released by the Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Centre.
As of Saturday, a total of 60,874 people have died so far, with 11,34,418 infections being recorded globally. More than 233,000 people diagnosed with the virus around the world have recovered.
Italy has reported the highest number of deaths at 14,681, followed by Spain at 11,198, the US at 7,087 and France at 6,520. The UK has reported 3,611 deaths, while Iran has reported 3,294 fatalities.
Many countries have restricted travel from the most affected areas and implemented lockdowns as the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a global pandemic.
India has reported six fresh deaths due to COVID-19, taking the total death toll to 68 and the total count of confirmed cases to 2,902, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Saturday.