Chinese companies donate to fight outbreak of coronavirus

Chinese technology companies have made donations and provided medical supplies to help fight against the outbreak of new coronavirus-related pneumonia in Central China's Hubei province.

E-commerce giant Alibaba announced it has set up a special fund of 1 billion yuan ($144.2 million) for medical supplies. The fund will be used to purchase medical equipment and medicine from home and abroad, and delivered to Hubei province, where the outbreak is most severe.

The company will continue to coordinate with plants in 58 regions in the country to resume the production of medical supplies. The first batch of 3.3 million masks will be sent to Wuhan through three"green passages".

Tencent Charity Foundation donated 300 million yuan, which will be used to purchase masks, sanitizers and other medical supplies, as well as help and motivate medical staff. Moreover, charity projects have been set up on its platform to allow people to make donations. 

Chinese internet search giant Baidu announced it has established a special fund of 300 million yuan for epidemic prevention and public health security.

The fund will be used to support the selection, research and development of drugs targeting the new coronavirus and a string of works to fight against the epidemic, as well as popularize and disseminate health security information for the long term.

Internet behemoth ByteDance announced it has decided to donate 200 million yuan to the Chinese Red Cross Foundation to set up a special fund for humanitarian assistance for medical personnel in the prevention and control of pneumonia outbreaks and fighting against the novel coronavirus infection.

All medical personnel involved in the prevention of the new type of pneumonia in the first line will receive 100,000 yuan in assistance, if they are infected, and up to 1 million yuan if they have made other significant contributions.

Short video platform Kuaishou donated 100 million yuan and 50,000 masks to Wuhan in response to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus-related pneumonia. JD said it has donated 1 million masks and 60,000 medical supplies. The first batch of medical supplies were delivered to Wuhan hospitals on Jan 24.

Bilibili donated 10 million yuan to the Hubei Charity Federation, and provided medical supplies valued at over 300,000 yuan to Wuhan hospitals.

Home appliances giant TCL donated 10 million yuan and offered LCD display equipment, air conditioners, washing machines and refrigerators to two SARS treatment-model makeshift hospitals in Wuhan.

Haier announced to donate 3 million yuan in cash, which will be used for the purchase of medical equipment, and 2 million yuan of home appliances, such as fresh-air system, disinfection cabinet and electric water heater . 

Chinese smartphone vendors Huawei, Oppo and Vivo announced that they had each donated 30 million yuan to help fight against the outbreak of novel coronavirus in Hubei province. Computer manufacturing company Lenovo said it would donate all IT equipment necessary for the specialist treatment center being built in Wuhan.

Chinese on-demand service platform Meituan-Dianping announced the establishment of a special fund totaling 200 million yuan against the outbreak of the novel coronavirus-related pneumonia.

The fresh fund will be mainly used to support medical workers in seriously-affected areas such as Wuhan, including help in medical supplies and life services.

In addition to the fund, the company whose business spanning online food delivery to ride-hailing, will provide 1,000 free take-outs per day for medical workers.

To avoid infection, Meituan also launched a "non-contact delivery" first in Wuhan, where users can ask deliverymen to put the take-out in the assigned place.

Online education startup Yuanfudao donated 10 million yuan in response to the novel coronavirus-related pneumonia. The money has already been used by Wuhan Charity Federation to offer help in the purchase of urgent-needed medical materials and equipment.

Following a 20-million-yuan donation, Chinese education leader TAL Education Group also announced to use another 80 million yuan to help students in areas that have been affected by the novel coronavirus-related pneumonia.

As most schools have postponed the beginning of the spring term, TAL said that it will offer free livestreaming courses and technological support to students in those areas.

Apart from Chinese tech enterprises, US tech giant Dell Technologies has donated a total of 2 million yuan to China Youth Development Foundation. The donation will be used to purchase badly-needed materials including surgical masks, protective clothing and eye protectors.

The computer maker has also provided necessary IT equipment for medical institutions and telecommunications. The firm also ensured that its team in Wuhan always on call to offer help.

Staff from Dell China have donated 300,000 yuan within three hours on the Lunar New Year's Eve to purchase medical materials. The first batch has already been delivered to local hospitals.