TOKYO: Workers scaled a giant statue of a Buddhist goddess in Japan on Tuesday (Jun 15) to place a custom-made mask on her face, an act meant to be a prayer for the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It took four workers three hours to carry the massive mask on ropes up the 57m white statue of the Buddhist goddess Kannon - the Goddess of Mercy - at the Houkokuji Aizu Betsuin temple in Fukushima Prefecture.