TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the Taiwanese member of the K-pop girl group Twice, on her birthday donated 50 respirators to help treat COVID-19 patients in critical condition in Taiwan.

After leading a drive to acquire 330 high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) machines, Jia Yong-jie (賈永婕), a Taiwanese TV show host and model, announced Wednesday (June 23) that she had just obtained 176 powered air-purifying respirators (PAPR). She said that Chou was the largest contributor.

Jia explained that Chou had contacted her on June 14 as she was celebrating her 22nd birthday. Chou expressed that her birthday wish was that she could do something to help Taiwan battle the pandemic.

According to Jia, Chou then pledged to donate 50 PAPRs. Jia found Chou's gesture to be "heartwarming" and said that her two daughters had described Chou as "a real goddess."

In addition to Jia's own donation of 46 respirators, a dozen other celebrities also purchased machines, including Dee Hsu (徐熙娣), who gifted 20. After acquiring over 176 PAPRs, Jia wrote: "Thank you, and I invite everyone to dinner after the pandemic is over."

Jia said the drive started when she learned on June 19 that front-line medical staff were short of PAPRs. She immediately leaped into action and spent NT$1.288 million (US$46,000) on the 46 units a manufacturer had in stock in Taiwan.

She stated that the rest of the respirators donated by her celebrity friends were acquired from abroad. She closed by thanking her "god teammates" for helping with the acquisitions and keeping her from spending her entire fortune and "having to eat dirt."