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Ethiopian Airlines started the distribution of coronavirus donation made to Africa by Chinese business mogul Jack Ma, CEO of e-commerce giants Ali Baba.
on Monday, the carrier which is Africa’s most expansive and most profitable disclosed on Monday that it was starting with its neighbours – Eritrea, Djibouti, Egypt and Sudan.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed also disclosed on Tuesday that another nine countries were also being served: among them are to South Africa, Burundi, Rwanda, Togo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Nigeria and South Sudan. Of the set Burundi and South Sudan have not recorded any cases yet.
“The mission continues with subsequent freighter flights across Africa,” the Airline said in its tweet on Monday.
Even though most countries have closed their airports, exemptions have been made for cargo flights and planes on emergency missions. Ethiopian flies to most major capitals across Africa.
This morning we have sent out the second shipment of #COVID-19 materials acquired through the support of
— Abiy Ahmed Ali ?? (@AbiyAhmedAli) March 24, 2020JackMaand theAlibabaGroup to #South Africa, #Burundi, #Rwanda, #Togo, #Zambia, #Zimbabwe, #Kenya, #Nigeria and #South Sudan. pic.twitter.com/Ts4F7Znc2h
A coronavirus support from CEO of Ali Baba, global e-commerce giants, has arrived in Ethiopia. The consignment was flown in by Ethiopian Airlines from Guanzhuo to Addis Ababa.
According to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the support includes 1.1 million testing kits,6 million masks & 60,000 protective suits to be distributed throughout Africa. “Distribution to other countries will begin as of tomorrow,” the PM added.
Most African countries have closed their air entry points but have made room for cargo planes to enter and exit. Ethiopian flies to almost every major African capital being the continent’s most expansive and profitable flight.
Ethiopian transported COVID-19 medical equipment donated by Jack Ma Foundation to Africa. The medical equipment will be distributed through Ethiopian Airlines to the 54 African countries.#Ethiopianairlines #AlibabaGroup pic.twitter.com/QxzycMYxbO
— Ethiopian Airlines (@flyethiopian) March 22, 2020
A day after Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced a coronavirus support package for the whole of Africa, the donor in question Chinese business Mogul Jack Ma confirmed the donation with details.
The donation under the aegis of the Jack Ma Foundation confirmed that millions of prevention and containment materials will be flown into Africa.
“To combat the potential surging for demand for medical supplies and equipment in Africa, Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation will donate to each one of the 54 African nations 20,000 testing kits, 100,000 masks, and 1,000 medical use protective suits and face shields,” the statement read.
“In addition, we will immediately start working with medical institutions in Africa to provide online training material for COVID-19 clinical treatment,” the statement added.
The supplies will be flown to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa from where PM Abiy has agreed to lead in managing the logistics and disbursement efforts.
“Now it is as if we are all living in the same forest on fire. As members of the global community, it would be irresponsible for us to sit on the fence, panic, ignore facts or fail to act. We need to take action now!” the statement concluded.
Ethiopia PM’s #coronavirus support partnership with #AliBabab CEO
The package: each of 54 African countries gets,
a. 20,000 test kits
b. 100,000 masks
c. 1,000 medical use protective suits and face shields.
Most surelyflyethiopianwill be flying 'em in. ?????? https://t.co/d9WqHKSxJV— Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban (AlfaAfrican) March 16, 2020
Ethiopia Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on Sunday announced that he had secured a continent wide support coronavirus support from Chinese businessman Jack Ma.
Abiy said the package which was to benefit all African countries will comprise testing kits, masks and guideline books on treatment methods.
“Great appreciation to Jack Ma for partnering with Ethiopia to distribute 10-20k corona testing kits per country; more than 100k masks for each African country, and guideline books developed recently on how to treat patients with the virus,” he wrote in one of three tweets.
It remains to be known the exact testing kit the PM is referring to given that currently only laboratory tests are being used. The Institut Pasteur de Dakar in Senegal has, however, hinted that it would soon roll out a rapid test kit.
Jack Ma, the Ali Baba founder had recently donated a million face masks to the United States as part of measures to help deal with the spreading virus.
In November last year, Ma was in Addis Ababa where he met with Abiy. The two parties discussed the launch of the Electronic World Trade Platform in Ethiopia.
The platform was to promote Ethiopia’s export products to the global market and open the door for small enterprises to become competitive.
The visit followed a 2018 meeting between the Abiy and Ma at the Alibaba Headquarters in Hangzhou. In January 2019, they met at the World Economic Forum in Davos and discussed a potential partnership to build a tech city in Ethiopia.
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
