Billionaire entrepreneur and Alibaba founder Jack Ma has a message for the world: get together to fight the coronavirus. As social media channels remain awash in conflicting data, finger pointing and skepticism over reports and statistics coming out of China, where the coronavirus originated, the Chinese tech titan is kicking mega-philanthropy into high gear by sending lifesaving equipment to countries around the world.
Ma, who stepped down as the chairman of e-commerce giant Alibaba in 2019 after 20 years of leading the company since its inception in 1999, transforming it into an entertainment and cloud computing behemoth, has started shipping Covid-19 supply kits.
The Jack Ma Foundation has already delivered supplies to hard-hit Italy and Spain.
Arriving today from Shanghai to Zaragoza, Spain – the first donation shipment containing 500,000 face masks & other medical equipment to support the battle in Spain against the coronavirus. Thanks to all who made this happen. Together we can win! #estevirusloparamosentretodos pic.twitter.com/NUZGr07KWf
— Jack Ma Foundation (@foundation_ma) March 17, 2020
Ma issued his message to the world via Twitter, imploring people to work together.
“One more plane carrying 1.5 million masks has landed in Liege Airport, Belgium. These supplies will be delivered to France, Slovenia and Belgium. More supplies will be delivered to Liege! COVID-19 is still spreading. We need to be faster!…
We join hands with Asian neighbors to fight Covid-19! We and Alibaba Foundation will donate 2 million masks, 150k test kits, 20k protective suits and 20k face shields to Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. More help to other Asian nations is on the way! Go Asia!…
We will donate emergency supplies (1.8M masks, 210K test kits, 36K protective suits, plus ventilators and thermometers) to Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Laos, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Delivering fast is not easy, but we will get it done!…
One world, one fight! We will donate emergency supplies – 2 million masks, 400k test kits, 104 ventilators – to 24 Latin American countries including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Dominican Republic and Peru. We will ship long-distance, and we will hurry! WE ARE ONE!”
Health ministers have been expressing their concern about vital infrastructure as the number of coronavirus cases surge. In Africa, there are now more than 1,100 people who have contracted the virus. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali has confirmed the shipments from Alibaba. He says the first batch of donations arrived in Addis Ababa on Sunday.
The support includes 1.1 million testing kits, 6 million masks and 60,000 protective suits to be distributed throughout Africa.
Distribution to other countries will begin as of Monday.
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Featured Image: Shutterstock/Jaromir Chalabala
