Nets owner donates masks, ventilators to New York amid COVID-19 pandemic

A Chinese billionaire made a considerable donation to New York healthcare workers over the weekend as the city battles the coronavirus.

Brooklyn Nets owner and co-founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Joe Tsai, along with his wife Clare Wu Tsai, donated 2.6 million masks, 170,000 goggles, and 2,000 ventilators to New York, CNN reported.

The products arrived in two shipments - one on Thursday at Newark Liberty International Airport and one on Saturday at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

"We kept hearing cries for (personal protective equipment) from our community and wanted to help," Clara Tsai told CNN in an interview. The state will allocate the second shipment, but "we intend to help the most underserved institutions."

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in his daily coronavirus press conference that Tsai and the Chinese government helped facilitate the donation.