About 300,000 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 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government to distribute protective cloth masks in its fight against COVID-19 have been marred by complaints about mold, insects and stains in a number of the masks handed out so far.
Just days after it began supplying every household with two washable masks at a total cost of US$430 million, complaints emerged of soiled or defective products, many of them from pregnant women.
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By yesterday, 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.
Japanese Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Katsunobu Kato yesterday told a news conference that the safety of all the masks would be verified.
“It’s of top priority to guarantee the quality of the masks so pregnant women can use them with relief,” he said.
The government asked five firms to manufacture the masks, and had originally said only three — Kowa Co, Matsuoka Corp and trading house Itochu Corp — were providing them for pregnant women.
Itochu last week said it was recalling some of its undistributed masks following reports of defects, as did Kowa, which said it would tighten inspections at its plants.
On Monday, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the government had verified that an additional company, Yusebio, had also supplied masks which were sent to pregnant women.
According to Japanese media, the company, located in Fukushima Prefecture, normally imports wood chips for use in biomass energy production and has five employees.
Asked about the procurement of the masks and how the firms had been chosen, Suga said everything had been handled appropriately.
“There was an urgent need for the masks, so the government asked around broadly,” he said.
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