Hundreds of thousands of employees at the world's biggest iPhone manufacturer Foxconn, located in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, are subject to Covid-19 limitations at the company. This comes at a difficult time as China has been struggling to deal with the return of the Covid virus in recent weeks, ZeroHedge reported.
The New Regulations
Foxconn's Zhengzhou campus is home to approximately 300,000 employees, all of whom are prohibited from eating in public and are required to bring their meals back to their dormitories for consumption. This is a notice on the factory's official WeChat account, quoted by South China Morning Post (SCMP).
According to SCMP, Foxconn's staff in Zhengzhou are only authorized to move along specified routes inside the campus. A "de facto lockdown" has been implemented, meaning several entrances have been blocked. In a separate notification, employees living off campus were instructed to relocate to one of the dorms on the premises.
Workers will get three free lunches a day, and the firm will subsidize transportation costs for those who work in the integrated Digital Product Business Group, the division directly responsible for Apple iPhone manufacture. These employees have also been promised a daily incentive of ¥50 (about $7.60) for continuing to show up to work punctually despite the new regulations.
Foxconn confirmed that the site continues to operate as usual in spite of the recently implemented Covid limitations. "Production in the Zhengzhou campus remains normal, without a notable impact [from the Covid-19] situation," the factory's spokesman stated.
The new restrictions are being implemented now that the demand for the newest iPhone seems to have worsened.
The Information recently revealed that Apple had decided to cease manufacturing iPhone 14 Plus components while its procurement team reevaluated demand for the device. This was announced less than two weeks after the device was first introduced.
Related Story: China's COVID-19 Cases Threaten iPhone Maker and 100 Businesses' Production
Implementation of Zero-Covid Policy
Even while it was an easy target for Xi Jinping to deflect criticism of the slowing economy at last month's 20th party Congress, China has not yet backed down on its long-standing policy of Zero-Covid. This week, authorities in the metropolitan region around the iPhone campus urged more than one million residents in the area to remain indoors.
SCMP reported that an increase in the number of people infected with Covid is compelling some businesses to adopt what are known as "closed loop" systems. In these systems, employees are required to reside on the company's premises and are restricted from having any physical contact with anyone outside of the company, including their families.
The implementation of Zero-Covid has slowed development in China - knowing that it is the world's second-largest economy - and disrupted supply networks throughout the globe.
The positive news is that as a result of the reverse bullwhip effect, retailers in the United States now have enormous stockpiles. Container lines have been forced to cut their sails since US importers have decreased their cargoes from Asia.
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Trisha Kae Andrada
