Ten leading tech companies have pledged to donate a significant amount of funds to help contain the novel Coronavirus. Data gathered by Learnbonds.com indicates that the companies have offered at least $1.4 billion towards mitigating the virus. Top on the list is California based Google that has donated about $800 million that will be used to support businesses, organizations and healthcare workers as part of its coronavirus response that also includes free advertising on its various platforms. Cisco has also pledged about $225 million towards the course. On the other hand, social networking giant Facebook has donated $120 million while the Dell Foundation has pledged $100 million. Streaming service provider Netflix has set aside $115 million for the creative community as a coronavirus relief fund. Other notable donations to fight the COVID-19 pandemic have come from Amazon ($32 million), Samsung ($29 million), Apple ($15 million), Microsoft ($1 Million) and Twitter ($1 million).
Notably, Italy and Germany are among the most hit countries hit with the pandemic in Europe. Italy has at least 132,000 cases with about 16,500 deaths. On the other hand, Germany has recorded at least 103,000 cases with about 1800 deaths.
While other businesses are finding means of helping combat the pandemic, the travel, and tourism industry will be searching for a way out into recovery once the crisis is over.
Generally, there are fears that the spread of Coronavirus will fully cripple economies and most jurisdictions have come up with measures to contain the situation. In response, central banks in many countries have slashed interest rates while rolling out stimulus packages to aid citizens and small businesses in the course of the crisis.