300,000 masks provided by the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation arrive at the Liege Airport in Belgium, on March 16. (Photo/Xinhua) |
Companies from China are leveraging their prowess to help countries fight against the COVID-19 outbreak, as the virus has been spreading rapidly across the world.
Chinese investment conglomerate Fosun Group sent 36,000 pieces of protective medical supplies to Japan on March 1. The company also donated 45,500 pieces of protective medical supplies to Italy, as well as 22,000 pieces and 100,000 detection reagents to South Korea. On March 20, it delivered 2,300 pieces of protective medical supplies and 85,500 pieces to the UK and France, respectively.
“As a global company, Fosun should shoulder responsibilities to help countries across the world,” said the company’s chairman Guo Guangchang.
The Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation donated millions of masks, test kits and other supplies to Japan, South Korea, Iran, Italy, Spain, the United States and African countries between March 2 and present, while Chinese electronics retailer Suning donated the first batch of 300,000 masks to Italy on March 11.
Meanwhile, many Chinese technology companies have launched online consulting platforms globally to share Chinese experience in the fight against the virus.
WeDoctor, China’s leading technology-enabled healthcare solution provider, launched a bilingual global pandemic prevention and control platform in both Chinese and English to offer assistance. As of March 24, the platform had brought together 7,273 doctors in this regard.
On March 18, Zhao Lei, a chief physician with Wuhan Union Hospital, had a video talk with a doctor named Luca Varcasia from the Italian city of Sassari by means of the platform. Users from nine countries, including the Netherlands and India, watched the live broadcast, with over 10,000 viewers.
During the video communications, Zhao answered in detail seven questions from Luca and other Italian counterparts. “The information shared by Dr. Zhao would be pure gold for us,” Luca said after their video talk.
Another internet platform, JD Health, under Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, has also launched a global free health consultation platform, including a psychological counseling hotline and a special team consisting of 30 experts in traditional Chinese medicine.