Alibaba founder Jack Ma begins sending coronavirus testing kits, masks to US

The founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma has pledged to donate one million face masks and 500,000 coronavirus testing kits to the United States.

The billionaire took to Twitter to share the news and claimed that the kits and masks have been sourced.The first batch recently took off from Shanghai and shall be delivered soon.

"Drawing from my own country's experience, speedy and accurate testing and adequate personal protective equipment for medical professionals are most effective in preventing the spread of the virus," Jack Ma said in a statement.

"We hope that our donation can help Americans fight against the pandemic!", he added.

Recently, US President Donald Trump declared a national emergency and freed up $50 billion in federal resources to contain and battle the coronavirus.

Earlier, Ma had donated over one million masks to Japan. Additionally, he has also been trying to send one million masks to Iran.

Besides these regions, Ma has sent 1.8 million masks and 100,000 testing kits to Europe. The first batch reached Belgium this week. He has also shown interest in donating to Italy and Spain, the other two countries facing extreme cases of the virus.

Interestingly, the world's largest supplier of face masks is also where the virus began. After that happened, China decreased face mask exports to the rest of the world, while at the same time absorbing the majority of the world supply.

''United we stand, divided we fall'', announced Ma on Twitter. This is a popular quote by one of USA's founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin.

Across the world, over 6,500 people have died, as per figures by Johns Hopkins University.

Outside China, Italy reported the highest number of new cases in one day, which rose to over 3,590. Furthermore, 368 people have died in just the last 24 hours, which is being dubbed as the worst outbreak of the infection outside China.

Currently, India has 114 confirmed cases. Out of these, 97 are Indian nationals, while 17 are foreigners. According to government sources, 13 people have been discharged, while two people have died.

(With inputs from agencies)