Japan's Giant Buddhist goddess gets 35kg face mask as people pray for end of COVID-19

Workers in Japan scaled a 187 feet tall statue of a Buddhist Goddess to place a custom me mask on her face in an act that is supposed to be a prayer to end ongoing coronavirus pandemic. While hollow statue alrey h a spiral stairway to climb up to Goddess’ shoulders, all four workers used special ropes to reach her face and place 77-pound heavy face-covering atop it. whole task was completed in three hours with footages of it being recorded by a drone, according to Japan Times. 

About statue 

statue is that of Buddhist Goddess Kannon or Kuan Yin who is considered a Goddess of Mercy and physical embodiments of compassion. goddess is worshipped in times of despair and fear, like during current coronavirus contagion. gigantic statue is located at Houkokuji Aizu Betsuin Temple in Fukushima prefecture.

According to temple manager Takaomi Horigane, it was workers who came up with idea of mask. y now plan to keep mask on till infection rate in country comes under control. Asian country is currently facing its fourth wave of COVID infection and has reported over 777,643 cases, according to latest tally by Worldometers. Out of total people who contracted infection more than 14,187 have lost ir lives while 736,941 have recovered from infection. 

Regardless of a slow vaccination drive, triggered by vaccine hesitancy, country is all set to hold Olympics in Tokyo next month. In most recent development, it was reported that country is likely to allow up to 10,000 people to attend sports events ahe of Olympics. Japanese government is considering setting a cap of 10,000 spectators at venues of Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics to control spre of COVID-19. final decision over it will be me after discussions with games organizing committee, Tokyo metropolitan officials, and international Olympic and Paralympic committees.

Image: Chandan2778/twitter