LONDON: The UK is now facing a national shortage of paracetamol, commonly used to fight Covid-19, due to India curbing exports of the drug during the global pandemic. Pharmacists across the UK are being forced to ration paracetamol-containing products to one packet per customer, with many shops completely out of stock of the world's most popular painkiller.On March 3, India restricted the export of 26 pharmaceutical ingredients and the medicines made from them, which included paracetamol, some antibiotics and certain vitamins.Department for International Trade officials in the UK are currently in discussions with their Indian counterparts about easing those restrictions for key British suppliers.India is one of the world’s largest producers and exporters of drugs, with the UK heavily reliant on its supply. India’s pharmaceutical companies source about 70 per cent of their ingredients from Chinese factories and the main ingredient of paracetamol is primarily manufactured in China. But the closure of airports and factories in China, owing to the coronavirus, has severely impacted Chinese supplies reaching India.A spokesperson for UK’s Department of Health and Social Care said: “The Department is working closely with manufacturers, suppliers, the National Health Service and others to ensure patients can access the medicines they need and that export restrictions in other countries have limited impact on the UK.” The spokespersaon said the Department had “central stockpiles of commonly used drugs like paracetamol” for use in NHS hospitals.“We have seen an increase in customers looking to buy paracetamol, and we are carefully managing this in our stores and with our suppliers. To ensure we are supporting as many people as possible, we’ve introduced new restrictions so customers are only able to buy one pack of paracetamol (or product containing paracetamol) per transaction,” a spokesperson for Boots , the largest pharmacy chain in the UK, said.“The restrictions are a standard measure to manage potential medicine shortages and protect UK patients by ensuring the NHS has the treatments to continue providing world-class care. We would like to encourage our customers not to stockpile large amounts of paracetamol – this is creating instances where stores are selling out, and those who might be in desperate need are going without,” the spokesperson said.“There is huge demand for paracetamol as people are stockpiling it in case they get Covid-19 as it can alleviate fever and joint pains," said Prashant Patel , owner of Clockwork Pharmacy , which has 11 branches in the UK. "We cannot get what we need from our supplier so we are rationing it to our customers," he added.More than 80 crucial medicines, including adrenaline, insulin, paracetamol and morphine , have now been banned from “parallel export” out of the UK to ensure an uninterrupted supply of medicines for NHS hospitals treating coronavirus patients.Parallel exporting is when companies buy medicines meant for UK patients and sell them on at a higher price in another country.Companies that parallel export a medicine on the ban list risk having their trading licence revoked.