ZHENGZHOU: The largest iPhone manufacturer in the world, the main plant of Foxconn Technology Group in China, was placed under a seven-day lockdown by China's authorities. The Covid cases in Zhengzhou increased to 359 till Tuesday, up from 95 the day before, prompting the lockdown, which will remain in force until November 9.
According to the local government, only vehicles carrying necessities are allowed to be on the road. It also stated that everyone else, excluding Covid-prevention volunteers and essential workers, "must not leave their residences except to receive Covid tests and emergency medical treatment."
People were shown escaping Foxconn's facility on foot, in videos that were extensively circulated on social media. Several workers complained about the unpleasant working environment and how they had to leave the factory on foot to escape Covid transit limits.
The lockdown, which is consistent with China's zero-tolerance policy for infectious disease outbreaks, is anticipated to significantly disrupt Foxconn's major operational base. Some of Foxconn's 200,000 employees were placed in quarantine, and the business even compelled some of them to leave the building.
The shutdown will make it more difficult to ship production materials and hire new employees to maintain operations.
The production of the Apple Inc. gadgets at Foxconn's iPhone assembly factory in China's Zhengzhou city may be reduced by up to 30% in November, according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation, on Monday.
A number of employees left the facility over the weekend as a result of the Zhengzhou plant's strict measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 within the facility. The plant, which employs about 200,000 people in central China, has also been rocked by discontent.
According to experts at Taipei-based Fubon Research, Foxconn is the company that manufactures the majority of Apple's iPhones, producing 70% of all sales of the devices worldwide and contributing to 45% of its revenue.
The devices are also made in India and southern China, although the majority of the company's production worldwide is put together in the Zhengzhou factory.
Localities are required to respond quickly to outbreaks, including measures such as full-scale lockdowns, in accordance with China's extremely rigorous zero-COVID-19 rules.
A "closed loop" approach, in which employees live and work on-site, is frequently required for factories in impacted areas to be allowed to remain operational. According to businesses, such arrangements provide a number of challenges.
The Zhengzhou plant of Foxconn banned dining at canteens on October 19 and mandated that staff members consume meals in dorms. Production, it claimed, was typical.
Videos illustrating the misery of employees at the Foxconn-owned facility in Zhengzhou, central China, were removed by Chinese censors from social media. In those clips, one could see employees asking for supplies. This is the largest iPhone assembly facility in the entire world which is run by the Taiwanese company Hon Hai Technology Group.
Additionally, The head of Madrid's IE School of Global and Public Affairs, Manuel Muiz, warned that if Apple doesn't develop a backup plan, it might be a grave historical error.
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