Ethiopian Airlines, the Pan-African carrier, has delivered medical supplies donated by Jack Ma, the founder of China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba, to 39 African Countries within 5 days.
Ethiopian has transported Jack Ma’s support including testing kits, masks and protective suits over the past few days, according to the statement from Ethiopian Airlines. “Following its historical track record of serving Africa in both good and bad times, Ethiopian has once again demonstrated a great gesture of solidarity to the African people,” the statement said.
The countries that received the Chinese aid include, South Africa, Burundi, Rwanda, Togo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Nigeria and South Sudan. Ethiopian Airlines has also delivered the medical supplies to Cameron, Equatorial Guinea, Angola, Chad, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Libera, Sierra Leone, Guinea Conakry and #GuineaBissau.
Launched by Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Dr. Abiy Ahmed and Alibaba Foundation, the relief initiative is part of the actions taken towards implementing Africa’s continental strategy for preventing the spread of COVID-19. “We would like to thank our Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed and Mr. Jack Ma for giving us the opportunity to serve the people of Africa in this globally challenging time,” said Mr. Tewolde GebreMariam, Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO.
“With a guidance of our Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed and donation of Mr. Jack Ma as well as collaboration of our partners, we are happy to announce that we have delivered the COVID-19 test kits, protective masks and other necessary medical supplies to 39 African countries in the last 5 days. In most of these African airports, Ethiopian Cargo airplanes are the only ones delivering these lifesaving emergency medical supplies,’’ he said. The delivery has so far exceeded the half way mark with more distribution plans to be continued in the coming days.