Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday the government is prepared to distribute two protective fabric masks to more than 50 million households nationwide.
From the week after next at the earliest, the masks will be sent beginning with prefectures with large numbers of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus.
Abe said at a task force meeting Wednesday, "The prospects of securing 100 million masks by next month are good."
He also outlined his intention to include funding to buy out masks in the government's emergency economy budget that will be decided next week.
Wearing a fabric mask, Abe stressed that this type of mask "can be reused and will be extremely effective toward meeting the rapidly growing demand."
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