Addis Ababa, March 24, 2020 (FBC) –Ethiopia has started distributing medical supplies to prevent the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19).
The medical supplies were donated by Jack Ma Foundation through the initiative of Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed.
An Ethiopian Airlines cargo fleet carrying medical equipment, which included testing kits, masks, and medical use protective suits and face shields arrived in Khartoum, Sudan last night.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia to Sudan, Shiferaw Jarso, handed over the medical supplies to Sudanese Health Minister, Akram Ali Al-Tom.
The country also sent out this morning the second shipment of medical equipment to South Africa, Burundi, Rwanda, Togo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Nigeria and South Sudan.
The Ethiopia Airlines will distribute the medical supplies to other countries with subsequent freighter flights across Africa.
The Jack Ma, China’s richest man, and co-founder of the Alibaba online shopping platform, donated via his foundations, 20,000 test kits, 100,000 masks and 1,000 protective suits to each of the 54 African states.
An Ethiopian Airlines cargo flight from Guangzhou, China last Sunday arrived with 5.4 million face masks, 1.08 million testing kits, 40,000 sets of protective clothing and 60,000 protective face shields.