Hundreds of inmates in prisons across Jammu and Kashmir have volunteered and joined efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic with mass production of face masks in jail premises, officials said on Saturday.
They said the prisoners started manufacturing the high quality polypropylene masks last month after the prisons department's proposal got the nod of the Lt Governor G C Murmu administration which has called for universal usage of face covers to contain the spread of the contagious disease in the Union Territory.
Jammu and Kashmir has recorded six coronavirus deaths so far – four in the Valley and one each in Udhampur and Baramulla districts with nearly 450 others infected in the union territory.