The Greek government's plan to distribute hundreds of thousands of free face masks to schools across the country on the first day of the fall semester has been labeled as an "utter failure" after the items delivered turned out to be extremely oversized for kids and adults, fully covering the face and even the roots of the hair.
A contractor, Yiannis Stathopoulos, whose company won the tender for 500,000 masks, admitted the epic failure, saying: "The size was too large from the start."
He told the broadcaster Open TV that he was asked to make 10 by 18-centimeter masks for children up to 10 years old, and 12 by 22-centimeter masks for older pupils and teachers.
The facepalm-worthy moments have gone viral on social media, with parents posting hilarious photos of their kids in giant face masks.
“Parents, don’t pick up the wrong kid!” a social media user wrote on Twitter.
Another Twitter user also made a sarcastic comment saying: "It provides full face protection with lot of airflow for easy breathing."
An group entitled "parachute masks" was soon set up on Twitter, mocking the massive masks covering the entire face.
"There was a misunderstanding," Deputy Health Minister Vassilis Kontozamanis told reporters on Tuesday, vowing to fix the catastrophic failure.
The mask-maker, Stathopoulos, insisted he had followed the rules of his contract that had been set by Greece's state committee comprised of coronavirus health experts.
Wearing a face mask in Greece is compulsory in schools, on public transport and indoor public buildings.
Greece recorded a total of 312 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday.
