Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said Friday quality checks were being carried out on all the masks being doled out to every household, after some turned out to be dirty and defective.

“We are checking very carefully,” he told reporters, while stressing the masks are meant to ease people’s worries about COVID-19.

Suga confirmed the mask initiative will cost the taxpayer about 9 billion yen ($83 million). That’s lower than the initial budgeted 47 billion yen ($435 million).

Kowa Co., a textile and medical equipment company, and trading company Itochu Corp. apologized

Thursday, saying the masks they supplied the government were defects and are being recalled.
The handouts to 50 million households, have been pejoratively dubbed “AbenoMask” by the Japanese public, a take on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s “Abenomics” economic policies.

The reusable cloth masks come in packages of two and are delivered in mailboxes. Japanese media reports said some were stained or moldy, or had bugs in the packaging.

AP