Coronavirus: Africa gets Supplies from China’s Jack Ma

Millions of face masks and coronavirus detection kits arrived in Addis Ababa on Sunday (March 22) from Chinese billionaire Jack Ma.

The increasing spread of coronavirus across Africa’s 43 of the continent’s 54 countries with more than 1,100 cases confirmed.

The supplies from Ma, the founder of China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba, will be distributed to African countries in need of supplies to battle the spreading COVID-19 pandemic.

An Ethiopian Airlines cargo flight from Guangzhou, China arrived with 5.4 million face masks, 1.08 million testing kits, 40,000 sets of protective clothing and 60,000 protective face shields, according to Ethiopian officials and the Jack Ma Foundation.

Last week, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed pledged to distribute the supplies to other countries in Africa.

Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation were sending a donation of emergency supplies to the U.S. Having previously aided virus-fighting efforts in Japan, Iran and Italy.

Ma said on Saturday, that Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, the Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka would all receive protective suits, ventilators and thermometers. On Sunday, he said 104 ventilators will be sent to Latin America, helping efforts in countries like Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador and Peru.