China’s Tencent Donates Testing Kits to Ethiopia

ADDIS ABABA – The Chinese-based Tencent Foundation has donated medical supplies to help Ethiopia’s effort to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed confirmed the arrival of the testing kits and expressed his gratitude to Ma Huateng founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the foundation for the support.

Abiy twitted: “Thank you to Ma Huanteng of Tencent Foundation for supporting #Ethiopia in efforts to curb the #COVID19 pandemic by providing testing kits”.

“Such partnerships are key in enabling Ethiopia scale-up testing,” he said. The PM did not give details about the amount of medical supplies given.

Meanwhile, Global Alliance for the Rights of Ethiopians (GARE) has also handed over medical supplies worth donated 11.5 million birr to the ministry of Health.

The support by GARE, an organization that has been assisting Ethiopians in crisis, includes gloves, masks, full-body masks, and thermometers, and would help support frontline medical workers in their fight COVID-19.

Health Minister Dr. Lia Tadesse received the donation from GARE Country Representative Amha Mekonnen, who said the alliance had raised over 800,000 USD from more than seven thousand diaspora residing in various parts of the world.

Out of the stated amount the organization allotted over 11 million birr for the purchase of medical supplies to support the efforts of the government in halting the pandemic, he added.

Ethiopia confirmed its first case on March 13. Since then, the country tested over 65, 760 people for the virus, and reported a total of 389 cases including five deaths.