A screenshot from Jack Ma's Twitter account shows the first shipment of masks and novel coronavirus test kits being sent to the US. (Photo/Twitter)

Jack Ma, co-founder of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba, joined Twitter on Monday.

In his first tweet, Ma wrote, "The first shipment of masks and coronavirus test kits to the US is taking off from Shanghai. All the best to our friends in America." Ma got more than 13,000 retweets and 74,000 likes in the first three hours after posting.

Ma describes himself in his personal profile as a "teacher, philanthropist, entrepreneur", as well as "founder of AlibabaGroup, UNSDG Advocate", gaining over 32,000 followers in 3 hours.

Jack Ma is co-founder of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba. (Photo/Sipa)

He also retweeted a post from the Jack Ma Foundation about the donation of testing kits and masks to the US, saying, "We join hands with Americans in these difficult times."

The Jack Ma Foundation and Alibaba Foundation have donated much-needed materials to regions suffering in the epidemic over the past few weeks, including Japan, Korea, Italy, Iran and Spain, according to a tweet from the Jack Ma Foundation on Friday.