After enduring days of lockdown at Foxconn’s sprawling factory in central China with another 200,000 workers, Yuan nevertheless scaled fences on Saturday night and escaped the compound, joining others fleeing what they feared would be a development. COVID-19 outbreak.
He walked at night, guarding a road north of his hometown of Hebi, at every turn from the Zhengzhou factory of iPhone maker Foxconn, Taiwan’s largest company in mainland China.
“There were a lot of other people on the road,” Yuan told Reuters on Monday, declining to give his full call because of the sensitivity of the case.
Since mid-October, Foxconn has been dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak at its factory in Zhengzhou, the capital of central China’s Henan province. Workers have been locked down to prevent the spread of the coronavirus outside. Foxconn has refrained from disclosing the workload. .
“We were locked up on October 14 and had to do PCR tests, and after about 10 days, we had to wear an N95 mask and won classical Chinese medicine,” Yuan said.
Every time a positive or suspected case was detected on a production line, it was broadcast to the public, but the pictures continued, he told Reuters.
“People would be called to half work, and if they don’t show up the next day, it would mean they’ve been taken away,” Yuan said.
About 20,000 employees were quarantined at the site, Yuan had heard, but he may not be sure how many other people were infected, as the control had not made this information public.
China isolates a large number of other people who are considered close or even potential contacts of an inflamed person.
The world’s second-largest economy continues to wage war on COVID with disruptive lockdowns, mass quarantines and while many other countries have chosen to live with the disease.
For corporations with mass-production campuses like Foxconn, that means staying on-site in so-called “closed-loop” systems to keep their production lines running.
“Food for tens of thousands of other people has just come out (of the factory’s quarantine buildings),” said an employee surnamed Li, 21.
Li, who is at the factory, said he plans to resign.
On Monday, Apple supplier Foxconn said reports that 20,000 workers had been diagnosed with COVID were false.
On Sunday afternoon, the company told Reuters in an email that staff could leave if they wished.
Foxconn did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on Monday.
‘NEVER COME BACK’
Disruptions to China’s zero-COVID policies for industry and industry deepened in October as cases intensified. In addition to the closure of Foxconn, the Shanghai Disney Resort closed Monday to meet anti-epidemic requirements, with visitors still inside.
For Yuan, things came to a head when he learned that a staff housing complex near his factory had been closed for security on Friday, and that the factory itself would be subject to a curfew the next day.
Panicked, Yuan left the next day, joining waves of other fleeing workers. It was not transparent without delay if a curfew was finally imposed.
By Sunday morning, Yuan had walked to the banks of the Yellow River, the northern edge of Zhengzhou, where he arrested 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Hebi to the Xinxiang city government on the other side.
“I will return to Foxconn,” said Yuan, who has since been transported to Hebi and quarantined.
“Zhengzhou put one in my heart. “
(Reporting via Ryan Woo; Additional reporting via Beijing Newsroom and Ziyi Tang; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
Disclaimer: This report is generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint declines all responsibility for its content.
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