31 March 2020: Ethiopian Airlines has delivered medical supplies including testing kits, masks and protective suits to 39 African countries within 5 days. The medical supplies were donated by Jack Ma, the founder of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba and was launched by Ethiopia's Prime Minister, Dr. Abiy Ahmed and Alibaba Foundation. This relief initiative is part of the actions taken towards implementing Africa's continental strategy for preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Ethiopian has once again demonstrated a great gesture of solidarity to the African people keeping in view its record of serving Africa in both good and bad times.
Regarding the delivery of medical supplies, Mr. Tewolde GebreMariam, Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO, said "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. 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 life-saving emergency medical supplies.''
The delivery has so far exceeded the half way mark with more distribution plans to be continued in the coming days.