China LOCKS DOWN area surrounding world’s largest iPhone factory after workers fled Covid outbreak
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China has fully locked down the area surrounding the world’s largest iPhone factory after panicked workers desperately fled the site to avoid the latest Covid outbreak.
More than 600,000 people have been ordered to stay in their homes in Zhengzhou after the city reported 64 virus cases, in the latest draconian move by the ‘Zero Covid’ Communist Party termed ‘silent management’ by authorities.
The order came after workers who assemble iPhones at a facility run by Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn, which employs hundreds of thousands of workers, were seen breaking out of the factory.
The campus had been operating under a ‘closed-loop management’ system in which employees sleep, live and work isolated from the wider world at the factory.
But employees had been complaining of poor conditions, saying people who tested positive received no treatment and the company failed to stop the spread of the virus.
Workers who assemble iPhones at a facility run by Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn were seen breaking out of the factory
The campus had been operating under a ‘closed-loop management’ system in which employees sleep, live and work isolated from the wider world at the factory
Foxconn, formally Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, is Apple’s biggest iPhone maker, producing 70 per cent of iPhone shipments globally
Footage shows staff walking along motorways dragging suitcases after fleeing on foot to avoid Covid transport curbs.
Foxconn said it was testing employees daily and keeping them in the ‘closed loop’ as well as offering transport to those who wanted to leave, after the videos emerged.
The company said ill employees were being treated but did not say if new infections still were occurring.
Local governments in the area surrounding Zhengzhou city have asked Foxconn workers to register with authorities if they return home and to complete several days of quarantine upon arrival.
The company added it would quadruple bonuses for employees willing to remain at the factory during the outbreak.
Foxconn, formally Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, is Apple’s biggest iPhone maker, producing 70 per cent of iPhone shipments globally.
Footage shows staff walking along motorways dragging suitcases after fleeing on foot to avoid Covid transport curb
Workers who assemble Apple iPhones left their factory in Zhengzhou following outbreaks
It makes most of the phones at the Zhengzhou plant where it employs about 200,000 people, though it has other smaller production sites in India and south China.
In Zhengzhou, everyone in the industrial zone will be tested every day for the coronavirus, the Airport District said.
The ‘silent management’ measures include barring all residents from going out and only allowing approved vehicles no the roads. The curbs will stay in place until November 9.
Also this week, visitors to Shanghai Disneyland were temporarily barred from leaving as part of virus testing.
Thousands of employees left the Foxconn Technology Group factory starting in mid-October after complaints people who contracted the virus received no treatment
The city health agency said visitors on Monday tested negative and were allowed to leave.
All people except Covid-prevention volunteers and essential workers ‘must not leave their residences except to receive Covid tests and emergency medical treatment’, officials from central China’s Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone said Wednesday.
China is the last major economy committed to a zero-Covid strategy, persisting with snap lockdowns, mass testing and lengthy quarantines in a bid to stamp out emerging outbreaks.
But new variants have tested local officials’ ability to snuff out flare-ups faster than they can spread, causing much of the country to live under an ever-changing mosaic of Covid curbs.
Areas throughout China tightened restrictions on movement and cancelled airline flights last month after new infections surged following the week-long National Day holiday.
Also this week, visitors to Shanghai Disneyland were temporarily barred from leaving as part of virus testing (pictured yesterday)
Security members check a vehicle entering Disney Resort amid Covid-19 lockdown
A man gets tested for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a nucleic acid testing site in Shanghai yesterday
Residents of many parts of the Xinjiang region in the north west were barred from leaving their homes in August and September.
People in Urumqi and other cities who said they had run out of food and medicine posted appeals for help on social media.
The district in Zhengzhou city said Wednesday that all businesses would be required to work from home, with only ‘key enterprises’ in the district allowed to continue operating, without specifying which businesses fell under this category.
Only medical vehicles and those delivering essentials are allowed on the streets.
The district’s more than 600,000 residents will have to take nucleic acid tests every day, the local government said, warning that it would ‘resolutely crack down on all kinds of violations.’
China reported more than 2,000 fresh domestic infections on Wednesday for the third day in a row.
Henan province, where Zhengzhou is located, officially reported 359 Covid-19 infections on Wednesday, a jump from Tuesday’s 104.
The southern Chinese manufacturing hub of Guangzhou also announced partial lockdowns in several districts this week in response to rising case numbers.