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TOKYO – Some 300,000 coronavirus masks sent to pregnant women in Japan as part of a government handout have been found to be faulty, media reports said, the latest in a string of complaints about how the government has dealt with the pandemic.
The efforts of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government to distribute protective cloth masks in its fight against the coronavirus have been marred by complaints about mould, insects and stains in a number of the masks handed out so far.
Just days after it began supplying every household with two washable, reusable masks at a total cost of US$430 million (S$610 million), complaints emerged of soiled or defective products, many of them from pregnant women.
By Tuesday (April 28), the number of defective masks distributed to pregnant women had risen to 300,000 out of 500,000, public broadcaster NHK reported.
The masks are being sent out in order of priority, with pregnant women and care homes for the disabled at the head of the list, though private households in Tokyo are also starting to receive theirs.
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