To curb the spread of coronavirus, inmates of Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura jail have manufactured over 500 masks, which the prisons department plans to distribute among prisoners across the state.

The prisoners manufactured the masks on March 14, an initiative which comes after 12 people in the state prisons department tested positive for COVID-19.

According to director general of prisons, Anand Kumar, as per recommendations of government doctors, 55 of the 71 jails in the state have the facility to manufacture masks.

‘We have asked for in-house trainers to manufacture masks with the available resources. If there is a shortage of raw materials, we will arrange for more from markets,’ The Times Of India quoted Kumar as saying.

Kumar clarified that although wearing these masks does not create an iron barrier against the virus, it does help in efficiently maintaining hygiene.

‘In the remaining 16 prisons which do not have the required manufacturing set-up, we have asked jailers to arrange for masks from outside and then distribute it among prisoners,’ Kumar said.

He added, ‘We have also directed jail wardens to organise sensitisation drives in prisons to spread awareness about COVID-19 and send daily updates to the headquarters. There are adequate arrangements to shift prisoners with prolonged illness to district hospitals.’

On March 14, district prisons in Barabanki, Ghaziabad, Firozabad and Gautam Buddh Nagar also started manufacturing masks.

In a similar initiative in Kerala, prisoners are manufacturing masks to be distributed across state prisons.

Also Read: Prisoners In Kerala Pitch-In To Tackle Coronavirus, Manufacture Face Masks In Jails