Tencent, SFIEC donate masks to Rio de Janeiro

Cao Cong (1st L), executive secretary-general of Shenzhen Foundation for International Exchange and Cooperation (SFIEC); Cai Ying (3rd L), director of the Shenzhen Foreign Affairs Office; Ma Weihua (C), honory president of SFIEC and former president of China Merchants Bank; Shen Dan (3rd R), vice president of corporate communications with Tencent and vice president of SFIEC; and other representatives from the foundation attend a mask donation ceremony in Futian District yesterday. Photos courtesy of SFIEC

In partnership with the Shenzhen Foundation for International Exchange and Cooperation (SFIEC), tech giant Tencent is donating 200,000 masks worth more than 1.7 million yuan (US$242,000) to the city of Rio de Janeiro, the second-largest city of Brazil which has become a coronavirus hot spot.

The move, supported by the city’s foreign affairs office, aims to render support in the global fight against COVID-19. A donation ceremony was held at the lobby of Tower B of NEO Building, Futian District, yesterday morning.

The donation includes 100,000 disposable surgical masks and 100,000 KN95 masks that are set to be delivered to Brazil in batches in the near future. The masks will be received by the city government of Rio de Janeiro and distributed to local anti-epidemic departments for use.

Prior to this, Tencent had donated 60,000 disposable surgical masks to Cambodia’s Phnom Penh, a sister city of Shenzhen.

According to SFIEC, as of yesterday, the foundation has donated more than 1.7 million masks, 2,069 protective gowns, 250 testing kits, 10,000 gloves, 240 infrared thermometers and five air purifiers to 16 sister cities and institutions in nine countries including Japan, South Korea, Switzerland, Italy, Indonesia, Cambodia, the Netherlands, Myanmar and Brazil.

Brazil is the second hardest-hit country in the world, trailing only the United States. As of 6 p.m. Monday, local time, its nationwide COVID-19 death toll had reached 72,833, with 733 more patients having succumbed to the coronavirus in the previous 24 hours, according to Xinhua.

The country reported 20,286 new cases in the same period, bringing the total number of infections to 1,884,967, the country’s health ministry said.