The Biden administration is extending tariff exclusion on 99 categories of medical-care products from China for six months until September 30, 2021 to help the nation address the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Trade Representative's Office said in a notice on Wednesday.

The exclusion list covers items from surgical masks and gloves to blood pressure cuff sleeves and X-ray tables.

The U.S. announced on December 29, 2020, the extension of tariff exclusion on medical-care products under the Trump administration's "Section 301" tariffs, and the extension was set to expire on March 31, 2021.

"In light of the continuing efforts to combat COVID-19, the U.S. Trade Representative has determined that it is inappropriate to allow the exclusions for certain products to lapse," the trade agency said.

The U.S. Trade Representative may continue to consider further extensions or additional modifications as appropriate, according to the notice.

Most of the products had been included in a fourth round of tariffs on Chinese goods imposed by the Trump administration on September 1, 2019, at the height of the trade war between the U.S. and China.

They were hit with an initial U.S. tariff rate of 15 percent that was later lowered to 7.5 percent as part of the China-U.S. phase one trade agreement enacted in February 2020.

(With input from Reuters)