Respite for Nigerians as Coronavirus medical supplies arrive Nigeria today

Some level of respite is finally here for Nigeria as medical supplies donated to Africa from the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation to help fight Coronavirus will be arriving today.

These donations will be coming in, less than hours after the federal government reversed it’s decision to ban cargo flights from coming into the country.

BusinessDay’s checks show that on 22nd March, 2020, an Ethiopian Airlines cargo flight loaded with a large batch of medical supplies donated to Africa from the Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation departed from Guangzhou, China and landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

The flight carried 5.4 million face masks, kits for 1.08 million detection tests, 40,000 sets of protective clothing and 60,000 sets of protective face shields.

The supplies will be transported on and distributed throughout the rest of the continent.

The remaining shipments of medical supplies are expected to reach Addis Ababa and be distributed to more African nations over the next few weeks.

IFEOMA OKEKE

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.