Alibaba founder Jack Ma donates kits to help Africa combat coronavirus

Jack Ma, Alibaba founder donates millions worth of face masks, test kits, for each of the 54 African countries to combat coronavirus. 

Jack Ma recently donated masks and other testing kits to the United States and other hard-hit countries such as Iran, Japan, and Italy. The founder of Alibaba Groups Holdings, who stepped down as the chairman of the company last year, donated millions worth of equipment to all fifty-four African countries through the Ma foundation.

Generous donation

Jack took to Weibo and shared his intention to donate 20,000 test kits, 100,000 masks, face shields and over a thousand medical protective suits to affected African countries. Over 6 million masks, 1.1 million testing kits, face shields, and 60,000 protective medical suits will be shipped directly to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed will then manage the logistics of distributing the supplies.

PM Abiy Ahmed meets Jack Ma

Reports from the Ethiopia News Agency revealed a meeting between Abiy Ahmed and Jack Ma at the Office of the Prime Minister. The World Health Organization previously expressed concerns about the vulnerability of African countries in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Abiy took to Twitter and expressed his gratitude and support from the Chinese Billionaire.

Handbook on Covid-19

Ma tweeted that the clinical practitioners even came up with a handbook detailing treatment procedures that can be taken by care providers. The Handbook of Covid-19 Prevention and Treatment is a 68-page guideline drafted by top Chinese experts on how best one can cope with the virus. The hospital at Zhejiang University School of Medicine prepared the handbook given their treatment of 104 coronavirus patients within the past 50 days without any medical staff member getting infected. Zhejiang happens to be Alibaba’s hometown and has confirmed over 1,215 Covid-19 cases, out of the cumulative population of over 57 million. 

More cases registered in Africa

Africa has only recently reported new cases of the Covid-19. In many cases, it involved people having arrived from outside the continent. Countries are implementing strict measures to contain the spread of the virus and prevent a scenario where it becomes a community spread that could overwhelm their response capacities.Cases began rising in Africa right around the time Covid-19 was declared as an international pandemic. Infections across the continent have now exceeded 300, with South Africa accounting for 62 cases. A large number of African countries have banned travel from countries experiencing the worst of the virus such as Italy, South Korea, Iran, and China.In other news, China has revamped its capacity to produce face masks by a factor of 5, raising fears of a potential glut in supply in the event the virus fades away.