Tailor in Derik makes and distributes masks for free due to high prices and lack of availability

Derik- North-Press Agency

Solnar Muhammad

On Monday, a tailor, with the help of friends in Derik, northeastern Syria, launched an initiative to sew 2,000 masks, which will be distributed for free to those in need in the town.

In an interview with North-Press, Nawaf Omar, the head of the initiative, said that the lack of masks and their high prices in pharmacies prompted him to launch this initiative.

"I used a hundred meters of good quality cotton fabric, which is enough to sew about 2,000 masks, and if there will be a lack of masks in the coming days, we will sew more of them and distribute them again," he added.

Omar explained that he had visited the town’s health committee, and they gave him approval to start work, noting that the masks would be sterilized by the Kurdish Red Crescent.

Regarding the distribution mechanism, he said that they will distribute them to the "needy" residents of the town, in addition to distributing them to the municipal employees, in cooperation with the Kurdish Red Crescent.

In related news, with the beginning of the lockdown announced by the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, on the 23rd of this month, a number of shop owners in Derik launched an initiative to exempt the tenants of their stores from paying rent for the coming April.