Some cloth masks the government started distributing to each household were contaminated with stains, bugs or hair, the health ministry said Saturday.
The government planned to distribute about 10 million masks for pregnant women and started sending them to local governments Tuesday.
A spate of claims related to the contaminated masks have been reported since Thursday, with some saying, "The color of the mask changed" or "I found human hair in the mask."
As of Friday, 1,901 such masks have been reported in 80 municipalities.
Most of the stained masks were found out to be sent to pregnant women, while some of those distributed to schools were contaminated with bugs and other items, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry said.
The ministry said it will replace the masks.
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