Chinese billionaire and co-founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma | Credit | Asia Times

The co-founder of Alibaba has reportedly promised to donate masks, test kits and protective suits to all countries in Africa to help the continent in its fight against the novel coronavirus.

At least 27 African states have so far been affected by the virus, BBC reports.

So far, neighboring countries such as Rwanda, Kenya, DRC, Sudan, Ethiopia and Egypt have confirmed their first coronavirus cases.

Benin, Liberia, Somalia and Tanzania are the latest African countries to report cases.

Monday’s statistics indicates that there were 153, 517 confirmed cases – with 5, 735 deaths globally.

“The world cannot afford the unthinkable consequences of a COVID-19 pandemic in Africa,” Jack Ma said in a statement tweeted on Monday.

Africa can be one step ahead of the coronavirus. To each of the 54 African countries, we will donate 20,000 test kits, 100,000 masks and 1,000 medical use protective suits and face shields. Thank you @PMEthiopia @AbiyAhmedAli for your support. pic.twitter.com/GnB2Babkcx

— Jack Ma Foundation (@foundation_ma) March 16, 2020

Jack Ma’s foundation will donate at total of 1.1 million testing kits, six million masks, and 60,000 protective suits and face shields.

It will also work with local medical institutions on the continent to provide online training material for coronavirus clinical treatments.

Jack Ma has also donated similar protective items to other countries, including Japan and the United States.

As of March 2, Ma has donated a million masks to Japan and had been trying to ship another million to Iran as of March 6, according to his Weibo posts.