Chinese billionaire Jack Ma donates 1 million masks, 500,000 coronavirus testing kits to US

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, founder of e-commerce colossus Alibaba, on Monday announced that the first shipment of his donated face masks and coronavirus testing kits was en route to the United States.

"The first shipment of masks and coronavirus test kits to the US is taking off from Shanghai. All the best to our friends in America," Ma said on Twitter in his first message on the social media platform.

His Ma Foundation earlier said 500,000 testing kits and 1 million face masks would be donated to the US, CNN reported.

"Drawing from my own country's experience, speedy and accurate testing and adequate personal protective equipment for medical professionals are most effective in preventing the spread of the virus," Ma said in a statement.

"We hope that our donation can help Americans fight against the pandemic!" the statement read.

Earlier this month, Ma also 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 cited by The New York Post.

Later, he wrote that 1.8 million masks and 100,000 testing kits would also be sent to Europe, including to Italy and Spain, two countries that have been especially hard hit by the virus.

China is the world's biggest supplier of face masks. As the coronavirus crisis in China ramped up in January, the country cut face mask exports to the rest of the world while buying up most of the world's supply.

The United States and countries across Europe have closed schools, entertainment venues and all but essential services, in an effort to combat the virus.

More cases are now being reported outside China, where the virus called COVID-19 first originated late last year.

Globally, the virus has now infected more than 164,000 people and killed at least 6,500.