In a bid to strengthen the fight against COVID-19, Chinese e-commerce billionaire and philanthropist Jack Ma on Tuesday, April 21, announced that he had sent emergency medical supplies to the World Health Organisation. The equipment includes 100 million masks, 1,000,000 N95 masks and 1,000,000 test kits. According to the announcement posted on Jack Ma’s Twitter account, the supplies will be distributed to those in most need. The Chinese philanthropist, who has also been at the heart of fighting the pandemic alongside his Alibaba Foundation, has donated emergency medical supplies to more than 150 countries. So far, Jack Ma has donated three batches of emergency medical supplies to Africa. The latest donation was sent on Monday, April 20. The equipment, which was sent through Ethiopia, included 4.6 million masks, 500,000 thousand swabs, and test kits, 300 ventilators, 200,000 clothing sets, 200,000 face shields, 200 thermal guns, 100 body temperature scanners and 500,000 pairs of gloves. The tech billionaire also challenged concerned authorities to merge efforts in order to overcome the pandemic. “Together we must move faster and with confidence to overcome this global challenge” Besides, Jack Ma through his foundation recently launched an online platform that allows doctors, nurses and medical experts across the world to share knowledge on the global pandemic. As it stands, more than 2,480,740 cases have been confirmed, while a total number of 170,148 patients have lost their lives in 185 countries, according to John Hopkins University.
