In a statement posted on his Twitter account, Ma, the co-founder and former executive chairman of multinational technology conglomerate Alibaba Group, said the donations from the Jack Ma Foundation and the Alibaba Foundation were part of efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19, which has been gathering pace worldwide since being first detected in China in December.

“We cannot ignore the potential risk to Africa and assume this continent of 1.3 billion people will blissfully escape the crisis,” the statement said.

"We will immediately start working with medical institutions in Africa to provide online training material for Covid-19 clinical treatment."

In total, 1.1 million testing kits, six million masks and 60,000 protective suits and face shields will be shipped to Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, from where they will be distributed.

(South Africans can phone their local Coronavirus Hotline Number: 0800 029 999, from 8am to 4pm, Monday to Friday, or send ‘Hi’ to 0600 123 456 on WhatsApp for more information.)

African News Agency (ANA)