Co-founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma, has pledged to donate test kits to Africa to aid its fight against the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Chinese billionaire pledged to donate 20,000 testing kits, 100,000 masks and 1,000 protective suits to each African country to help the fight against coronavirus.
Mr Ma, Asia’s richest person, earlier this month sent consignments of medical supplies to the US and pledged to distribute two million protective masks across Europe.
In a statement he said the resources for African countries would be delivered to Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed overseeing distribution to the rest of the continent.
Mr Abiy confirmed the news in a series of tweets and spoke of his “great appreciation” for Jack Ma’s partnership:
Ensuring #COVID19 preparedness in #Africa to mitigate health disasters is critical. #JackMa and I agreed this morning on ways of working together to halt the spread of #COVID19 on the continent. 1/3
— Abiy Ahmed Ali ???????? (@AbiyAhmedAli) March 15, 2020
