Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, China, also known as iPhone city, is on a seven-day lockdown beginning on Wednesday, Nov. 2, to restrain the Covid outbreak.
Authorities at Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone had previously ordered a lockdown on Foxconn's 150-square mile industrial complex but granted a Wuhan-style closed-loop arrangement instead.
This time, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Gov. Wang Kai of Henan province, during a plant visit on Tuesday, Nov. 2, said a total lockdown was necessary to rein on the surging cases of Covid in Zhengzhou, Henan's capital.
He said that the lockdown would ensure that protocols to contain the surge are in place. That includes Foxconn's iPhone manufacturing plant.
Closed Loop Operation
President Xi Jinping's draconian Covid policy requires a place to be placed on total lockdown to counter the Covid cases rise.
At the height of the pandemic, the Chinese government granted companies in Wuhan to operate on a closed loop.
This means the workers must stay on-site with the company providing them with accommodation. The workers cannot leave the site. They can move only from the company housing facility to the factory.
Foxconn had been granted the same mode of operation to maintain its production. The iPhone maker's over 200,000 workers have to live, work, eat, and sleep within the industrial complex during the lockdown.
Local officials said the city is bent on strictly imposing the lockdown order.
Zhengzhou has a population of about 10,000 people. Some 167 cases of locally transmitted infections had been recorded in the last seven days, significantly higher than the 97 reported cases in the previous week.
Harrowing Conditions
Harrowing conditions with more Covid infections inside the industrial complex forced some workers to flee by climbing fences to escape and go home to their families.
Although the company said it wouldn't stop the workers from leaving, it offered incentives to entice them to stay on campus.
The company had already quadrupled the bonuses to its workers after a number of workers fled the production site. Assembly line workers will receive no less than $55.02 (400 yuan) a day, Yahoo Finance reports.
Local authorities said the lockdown of the Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone would end at noon on Nov. 9.
The lockdown had paralyzed public transport, and authorities advised the people to work remotely.
Foxconn on Lockdown
Already grappling with the Covid situation inside the plant, the Taiwan-based Foxconn has to contend with a government-mandated total lockdown.
The Wall Street Journal said the lockdown would mean a total shutdown of the operations, but Foxconn insisted it is continuing its production activities.
A Foxconn spokesperson, according to a Wall Street Journal report, said the company is operating on a closed loop.
Other Production Sites
To compensate for the lost production, Foxconn boosted its production outputs by contracting the services of smaller regional factories.
Given the Chinese government's rigid Covid policy, the Taiwanese iPhone maker has no other recourse but to comply with the lockdown order and continue its production with the help of smaller factories on a closed loop.
One thing is clear, however. The Covid situation inside Foxconn's factory in Zhengzhou is not getting any better.
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