Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 27) – A donation of around 57,000 COVID-19 testing kits and 500,000 face masks by Chinese billionaire Jack Ma arrived in the country on Friday.
The office of Senator Manny Pacquiao, a close friend of Ma, received the testing kits and face masks at the Department of Health main office in Sta. Cruz, Manila.
Pacquiao is on self quarantine as a precautionary measure against the disease. The senator’s assistant Jake Joson led the turnover of the donations.
These donated testing kits and face masks will help contain the virus in the country, which now has confirmed 803 COVID-19 cases.
“Fortunately, we have friends like Jack Ma who are always ready to help us. The President cannot do this alone. We all have to do our part to win the war against this virus,” Pacquiao said in a statement.
The P400 million worth of testing kits was donated by Ma to the Philippine government, through the senator’s self-named foundation.
Those testing kits will be used “for the in vitro qualitative detection of novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) ORFlab and N gene in the throat swabs, sputum specimens of suspected pneumonia patients infected by novel coronavirus, suspected clustering cases and others needing diagnosis or differential diagnosis for novel coronavirus.”
The same kits donated to the Philippines were also used by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ma previously donated 700,000 face masks last week to various agencies.
Pacquiao ordered the newly arrived testing kits and face masks to be disinfected to prevent endangering the lives of those who will use those donated items.
54 Filipinos died and 31 have recovered due to COVID-19. There are 6,321 persons under monitoring and 744 persons under investigation for the virus.
The island of Luzon is placed in an enhanced community quarantine to avert the spread of COVID-19.
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