AGENCIES, Beijing: Chinese billionaire and founder of multinational technology conglomerate Alibaba, Jack Ma has said that his foundation will donate 500,000 testing kits and one million masks to the United States to combat the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Ma’s Twitter statement posted on March 13 read: “Over the past few weeks, Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation collaborated to source and donate much-needed materials to combat COVID-19 to afflicted areas in Japan, Korea, Italy, Iran and Spain. Now, we have sourced and readied for shipment 500,000 testing kits and one million masks to be donated to the United States.”
Through a donation of 500,000 testing kits and 1 million masks, we join hands with Americans in these difficult times. pic.twitter.com/tGviVhC6Gx
— Jack Ma Foundation (@foundation_ma) March 13, 2020
Ma’s statement observed that the pandemic can “no longer be resolved by any individual country.” “This crisis presents a huge challenge to all humankind in a globalised world. We need to combat coronavirus by working hand-in-hand. At this moment, we can’t beat this virus unless we eliminate boundaries to resources and share our know-how and hard-earned lessons. United we stand divided we fall!” he ended.
As the number of coronavirus infected cases and death toll continues to rise, on March 13, US President Donald Trump declared it as national emergency. More than 138,000 people worldwide have been infected and more than 5,000 dead due to COVID-19.
Earlier, Ma had pledged over US$2 million to support the development of antiviral drugs to combat COVID-19.
