District Magistrate Rajinder Singh Tara has initiated the process of universal usage of face masks in the district to ensure that each and every individual of Kishtwar shall use masks to combat the spread of the COVID-19 infections.11,650 single use surgical masks and 16,196 cotton re-usable masks have been procured by the District administration out of which 8,550 surgical masks have been issued to health and medical workers and 8,695 reusable cotton masks has been issued to concerned officers for further distribution among frontline workers and employees dealing with COVID-19 related duties.Further 600 single use surgical masks and 1000 re-usable cotton masks have been issued to the concerned BDC Chairpersons for further distribution among the residents of rural areas .Reusable cotton masks shall be provided free of cost to the members of priority households including Antoyodaya and BPL families and others shall be provided on subsidised rate of Rs 10 per mask.In order to facilitate the universal usage of masks, DM has already constituted a District Level Task Force Committee headed by ADDC Kishtwar Mohd Hanief Malik to monitor the various issues related to the usage of the reusable cotton masks like procurement, demand, distribution and creating awareness related to use of masks by public.