Alibaba Founder Jack Ma Donates 2 Million Masks For Indonesia

Jack Ma (Instagram @jackma_alibaba)

JAKARTA - Alibaba founder and richest man in China, Jack Ma, donated medical equipment and masks to Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries to reduce the COVID-19 outbreak.

Launching the South China Morning Post, Saturday, March 21, through the Jack Ma Foundation and the Alibaba Foundation, the two announced that they had donated two million masks, 150 thousand test kits, 20 thousand sets of protective gear and 20 thousand face shields to four countries.

The two foundations last week also donated 500,000 test kits and one million masks to the United States (US), after donating medical masks to Japan and South Korea. Later, Jack Ma will also send test kits and masks to Italy, Belgium and Spain earlier this month. The Foundation is also committed to providing assistance to African countries in their fight against COVID-19.

"More assistance for Asian countries and others that are on the way," wrote the Jack Ma Foundation in his official statement.

The donations come at a time when the COVID-19 outbreak is spreading in Southeast Asian countries. Not only Jack Ma, a number of smartphone vendors from China, namely Oppo and Xiaomi, also donated masks and other medical devices to countries affected by COVID-19.

A total of 82 new cases in Indonesia were announced on Saturday, bringing the total to 450 and recording 38 deaths, the highest in Southeast Asia. President Joko Widodo has also raised concerns about insufficient testing kits in one of the world's most populous countries.

Countries in Southeast Asia have faced the challenge of inadequate and inaccessible medical equipment in their battle to contain the spread of COVID-19, which requires assistance from a number of neighboring countries.

The masks and medical equipment donated by Jack Ma arrived in the US last Monday. The COVID-19 combat kit will be distributed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), purchased in China as factories gradually restart production. The delivery of the second batch will be subject to availability, said Foundation spokesman Jack Ma.

The US faces a shortage of equipment to diagnose the deadly infectious disease and has drawn widespread criticism of the federal government for its slow preparation and response. Public health officials have chided US President Donald Trump for downplaying the seriousness of the fast-spreading disease.

Lack of laboratory equipment means that many people still cannot be tested despite guidelines from the CDC, that anyone with a doctor's order can do so without restriction.

However, not only did Alibaba founder Jack Ma donate tools to fight COVID-19, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation also donated US $ 100 million to help global detection, isolation and treatment of COVID-19. Amazon and Microsoft followed suit, which also announced a $ 1 million donation to a fund to help the Seattle area, which is the epicenter of the US pandemic and where the two companies are based, fight the outbreak.