TAIWAN: Chaos erupts at the world’s biggest iPhone factory in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, according to footage circulated widely online. The video showed people describing themselves as employees of Foxconn pulling down barriers and arguing with hazmut suited authorities. Foxconn is Apple’s main subcontractor and its Zhengzhou plant assembles more iPhones than anywhere else in the world and employs over 200,000 workers. So far there is no official statement by the company on the matter. In late October workers were seen fleeing the campus as the cases surged. The authorities however convinced them and enacted the so-called closed-loop operations at the plant keeping it isolated from the city.
China since October has been adding record-breaking COVID cases. The National Health Commission on Wednesday reported 29,157 infections nationwide for the previous day, close to April’s peak. Beijing on the other hand shut down has recorded a new peak of 1,486. Shanghai and Zhengzhou, both of which are battling smaller outbreaks, also saw their cases rise from the previous day.
Chengdu meanwhile, will conduct mass COVID-19 testing for its residents from Nov. 23 to Nov. 27, a government notice said late on Tuesday. Huang Hui, deputy director of the Chengdu Municipal Health Commission, said “in order to detect infected people as soon as possible, cut off the transmission chain, and curb the rapid rise of the epidemic,” health authorities have decided to implement mass testing across the city from Nov. 23 to Nov. 27.