Arnold Schwarzenegger donates $1m of protective equipment to 'hero' hospital workers on front line of coronavirus battle

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Mr Schwarzenegger has urged his fans to donate to a GoFundMe campaign raising money to get supplies to healthcare workers battling COVID-19
AFP via Getty Images
David Child3 April 2020

Arnold Schwarzenegger has donated $1 million worth of protective equipment to front line medical staff battling the Covid-19 pandemic.

The action movie icon and former governor of California's contribution will help see thousands of masks distributed to hospitals throughout the US city of Los Angeles.

In a video shared on social media on Wednesday, the 72-year-old can be seen attending one facility to make sure the right equipment had arrived.

The footage - in which Mr Schwarzenegger tears open a box to verify there are N95 face masks inside - aired a week after he announced his donation in an Instagram post.

In the post, he also urged his fans and followers to do the same.

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"I never believed in sitting on the couch and complaining about how bad things are, I always believed we should all do our part to make things better," Schwarzenegger wrote.

"This is a simple way to protect our real action heroes on the front lines in our hospitals, and I’m proud to be part of it," he added.

"I donated one million dollars, and I hope that all of you who can will step up to support these heroes. Go to the link in my bio to help out."

The GoFundMe page for the Frontline Responders Fund advertised by Schwarzenegger has to date received more than $5.5 million in donations.

The fund aims to raise $10 million overall and was created by an organisation called Flexport, which said it was racing to get "critical supplies to frontline responders combating COVID-19".

Coronavirus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes.

Adequate protective equipment is of critical necessity to healthcare workers treating infected patients, helping to protect them from catching Covid-19.

Meanwhile, the number of reported Covid-19 infections globally has soared to more than one million, according to data collated by Johns Hopkins University.

The pandemic, which has affected every continent besides Antarctica​, has killed at least 53,179 people to date.

The US leads the world in recorded cases, with more than 245,000 confirmed infections, but Italy and Spain have suffered higher death tolls.

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