COVID-19: Since March, 75,000 masks stitched by Tihar, Mandoli jail inmates

New Delhi, Apr 4 () Prisoners at the Tihar and Mandoli jails here have stitched 75,000 face masks since March for the traffic police, the prisons' inmates and for organisations that placed orders in the wake of novel coronavirus pandemic, prison department officials said.

The department has also produced 750 litres of sanitiser, they said.

"The masks are being prepared at the Tihar and Mandoli jails. These masks are also being supplied to the Rohini jail. We are preparing masks majorly for our own use and are also supplying them to different organisations as per their requirement," Director General for Prisons Sandeep Goel said.

"The Delhi Traffic Police approached us and we gave them 3,000 masks last week," he said.

The process of making masks was started in March and 75,000 masks have been made so far, the officials said, adding that 1,500 to 2,000 masks are being made every day.

"We have supplied 500 masks to the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB), 2,000 to the Delhi State Legal Services Authority, Karkardooma Court, 2,000 to the Sub Divisional Magistrate, Nand Nagri, and 1,000 to the Women and Child Welfare Department," Goel said.

The number of COVID-19 cases in the country climbed to 2,902 on Saturday while the death toll rose to 68, according to the Union Health Ministry.

The number of active cases stands at 2,650, while 183 people were either cured or discharged and one had migrated to another country, it said.

Last week, the Tihar Jail released over 400 inmates to reduce overcrowding in prisons to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

According to a senior jail official, 356 inmates were released on bail, while 63 inmates were released on emergency parole.

The interim bail is for 45 days and emergency parole is for eight weeks, the official said. NIT ANBANB