Chinese tech giant Tencent has established a USD 100 million special fund to provide global support against the increasingly severe worldwide coronavirus epidemic, the company announced on Tuesday.
The fund will initially be used to purchase and later donate medical supplies for hospitals and frontline medical staff, including individual protection equipment and other necessary supplies, said the company.
Tencent has already rolled out similar measures in China. In February, it launched a fund of RMB 1.5 billion (USD 212.1 million) to provide support for the country’s epidemic control, in fields including goods supplies, technical support, personnel care, and scientific research.
“Based on China ’s anti-epidemic experience and feedback collected from hospitals around the world, we know that hospitals are in urgent need of personal protective equipment and medical supplies, especially at the beginning of the pandemic, as traditional supply channels are not able to meet the sudden surge in demand,” said Tencent’s president Liu Chiping.
This article is part of KrASIA’s “China Brief” section, where KrASIA’s reporters will provide quick daily updates about the tech ecosystem in China.