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The African Union (AU) Commission on Wednesday commended the Chinese technology entrepreneur and philanthropist, Jack Ma, following the latest announcement of the third batch of medical supplies donated by the Jack Ma and Alibaba foundations in support of Africa’s fight against the spread of COVID-19.
The statement was made by the AU Commission Chairperson, Moussa Faki Mahamat, who commended Jack Ma for the third batch of massive medical equipment donation in support of the 55-member pan African bloc and the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) efforts in containing the spread of COVID-19 across the African continent.
“I thanked him for the donation of supplies to the AU Commission. This includes 4.6 million masks, 500,000 test kits, 200,000 personal protective equipments (PPEs), as well as 300 ventilators,” Mahamat said after holding a phone call with Jack Ma on the latest medical supplies donation.
“These vital supplies will enhance the Africa CDC’s strategic stockpile to assist member states in the COVID-19 fight,” he said.
The AU Commissioner of Social Affairs, Amira Elfadil, also commended the latest batch of massive medical equipment donation from Jack Ma in support of Africa’s fight against the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, calling it “a true solidarity with Africa”.
Elfadil emphasised that the donation from Jack Ma would support the AU’s recently launched Partnership to Accelerate COVID-19 Testing (PACT) “Test and Trace” initiative, which envisaged to roll out 1 million tests in 4 weeks and 10 million more in 24 weeks across the African continent.
Ahmed Ogwell, Deputy Director of Africa CDC, also hailed the donation made by Jack Ma, saying that “this is a partnership that works. The Africa CDC values friends of Africa.”
On Monday, Jack Ma disclosed that the third donation to Africa “will immediately be made” to the AU and the Africa CDC.
The latest batch of the donation mainly includes 4.6m masks, 500,000 swabs and test kits, 300 ventilators, 200,000 clothing sets, 200,000 face shields, 2,000 thermal guns, 100 body temperature scanners and 500,000 pairs of gloves, Jack Ma disclosed in a twitter post on Monday.
On Tuesday, the Africa CDC disclosed that the death toll from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on the African continent reached 1,158 as the number of confirmed cases hit 23,505 as of Tuesday.
