Facebook commits $20M to UNF, WHO and CDC to tackle COVID-19

Facebook said on Friday that it is committing to match $20 million in donations, a tiny fraction of its quarterly profit, to support global relief efforts for COVID-19 coronavirus.

Mark Zuckerberg,

the social juggernaut’s chief executive, said

Facebook was committing $10 million for the United Nations Foundation (UNF) and World Health Organization’s COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund

, and Facebook Fundraiser, and the remainder $10 million for the CDC Foundation, which will launch its Facebook Fundraiser in the coming weeks.

“More to come soon,” Zuckerberg said, possibly hinting that the company, which

said

this week that at least some of its contractors can’t work from home for a number of reasons, will do more in the future.

Also on Friday, Chinese ride-hailing giant DiDi Chuxing said it was committing to a $10 million special relief fund for drivers and couriers in its international markets.

Microsoft and Amazon, two major Seattle-based tech companies, this week committed $1 million each to COVID-19 Response Fund. Google.org and Google employees have donated over $1 million to support relief efforts, and the search giant has said it was donating $25 million in ad credits to the WHO and government agencies.

Last week, Facebook also said that it would provide free advertisements to the World Health Organization (WHO) to ensure that more people have access to accurate information about the disease.

Nations around the world are struggling to fully understand the new virus, its symptoms and spread. The virus has infected

more than 132,000 individuals

globally.

More to follow…