Chinese tech firms offer access to information seen crucial in fight against global spread of coronavirus

China’s tech giants are facilitating access to information and experience seen as crucial in the international fight against the novel coronavirus as the pandemic continues to spread across the globe.

The Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation are sharing clinical experience from frontline medical workers with global medical institutions in the form of a digital handbook, according to a statement on Wednesday.

The medical staff are from First Affiliated Hospital and Zhejiang University School of Medicine (FAHZU) which together admitted 104 patients confirmed with coronavirus over a 50-day period. The hospital has so far been able to handle the health crisis without a single medical staff infection, missed diagnosis or patient death.

“Today, with the spread of the global pandemic, these experiences are precious and the most-important weapon for medical personnel,” Jack Ma, billionaire and Alibaba co-founder, wrote in the handbook. “We hope that, with this handbook, doctors and nurses in other affected areas can learn from experience as they face this battle, without having to start from scratch.”

To help fight the coronavirus, which has now sickened more than 100,000 people in over 150 countries and regions around the world after peaking in China, Chinese tech giants are also providing free online consultations for Chinese living overseas.

Search giant Baidu and JD Health, the subsidiary of e-commerce giant JD.com, launched their consultation platforms on Tuesday. The free online service links overseas Chinese with doctors and medical experts in mainland China.