Ethiopia commends Chinese tech firm ByteDance's COVID-19 medical supplies donation

ADDIS ABABA -- Ethiopian Minister of Health, Lia Tadesse on Monday commended Chinese tech firm ByteDance for donating COVID-19 medical supplies.

Tadesse made the remark during a ceremony held in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa to receive a donation of 100,000 COVID-19 testing kits donated by Bytedance.

"My sincere appreciation to ByteDance for their generous donation of 100,000 COVID-19 testing kits worth $1.3 million," said Tadesse.

"The donation of COVID-19 testing kits will enhance our response and combat campaign against the COVID-19 pandemic," said Tadesse.

ByteDance, founded in 2012, is owner of the popular video sharing application Tik Tok which has hundreds of millions of users around the world.

The COVID-19 medical supplies donation ceremony was also attended by Chinese Ambassador to Ethiopia Tan Jian, who affirmed his country's commitment to help Ethiopia in its anti-COVID-19 fight.

Ethiopia, Africa's second-most populous nation with about 107 million people, confirmed its first case of COVID-19 on March 13. The east African country has so far recorded 23,591 COVID-19 cases, out of which 420 cases have resulted in deaths.