TOKYO – Chinese billionaire Jack Ma has made a donation of one million face masks to Japan, even as the country has announced a cutback in domestic flights in a bid to stabilise the economy in light of the ongoing Covid-19 situation.
Mr. Ma, co-founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba revealed that his donation was made in thanks for the similar gesture rendered earlier – Japan had sent a plane containing 125,000 protective suits nearly three weeks ago to Wuhan, China.
"Like the mountain range that stretches before you and me, let's share the same trials and hardships together. We hope everything will get better soon," said Mr Ma on his Weibo account.
The masks arrived in Tokyo via China Eastern Airlines on 2 March.
In furthered measures to grapple with hits to its economy, All Nippon Airways Co (ANA ) and Japan Airlines Co. (JAL) have announced on 4 March that they’ll be cutting domestic flights for a week, citing reduced passenger numbers due to the Covid-19.
Another reason is Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe’s 26 February call to postpone or cancel upcoming major public events – such as the cancellation of major hanami (cherry blossom) festivals, and shortening of opening hours at major tourist hotspots like Tokyo’s famous Ghibli Museum. Numerous artists have also cancelled their shows in Japan.
In this week, ANA will cut over 200 flights, a portion of which will come from its existing 17 daily round-trip flights connecting Sapporo and Haneda.
It is still unclear the fate of the Tokyo Olympics, slated to run from 24 July to 9 August, 2020.