Chinese Billionaire Jack Ma Donates 20,000 Coronavirus Testing Kits, 100,000 Masks to Kenya

Kenya and the rest of African countries are set to receive millions of coronavirus testing kits, masks, and protective gear.

The equipment has been donated by Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, the co-founder of e-commerce multinational Alibaba.

Ma announced on Monday he will donate a total of 1.1 million testing kits, 6 million masks and 60,000 medical use protective suits and face shields to Africa.

Each of the 54 African nations will get 20,000 testing kits, 100,000 masks, and 1,000 medical use protective suits and face shields. The donation will be shipped to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from where they will be distributed.

“Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed of Ethiopia has agreed to take the lead in managing the logistics and distribution of these supplies to other African countries. I want to express a big ‘Thank You’ to the Ethiopian government and Prime Minister Abiy,” said Jack Ma.

The tycoon further said that Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation will provide online training material for COVID-19 clinical treatment to African medical institutions.

“We cannot ignore the potential risk to Africa and assume this continent of 1.3 billion people will blissfully escape this crisis. The world cannot afford the unthinkable consequences of a COVID-19 pandemic in Africa,” said Ma.

Ma also donated similar equipment to the US, Japan, and countries in Europe. The US will receive 500,000 testing kits and one million face masks.

 “We hope that our donation can help Americans fight against the pandemic. United we stand, divided we fall,” said Ma in a statement.