Foxconn Ordered To Restore Output Despite COVID “Closed Loop” Lockdowns

The health authority in China’s Zhengzhou has reportedly ordered Foxconn’s “iPhone City” to restore its production despite being stuck in a Covid “closed loop” lock down that we wrote about several days ago. 

Bloomberg is reporting early Monday morning that the site is being asked to “implement strict Covid-19 prevention measures” upon restarting production and that the company will bear main responsibility” for its production under its closed loop format. 

Recall, just days ago we wrote that the lockdowns were so bad that some Foxconn employees were “scuffling” over food rations and that Covid cases at Foxconn’s main factory resulted in the facility going into a “closed loop” lockdown to begin with.

The lockdown means that employees can’t leave the campus and are tested regularly for Covid. After the lockdown, “food has become a source of unrest”, we wrote. 

Cafeterias at the manufacturing site were shut down and workers on assembly lines were given “meal boxes”. Some employees who have remained locked down in their dormitories were given items like bread and instant noodles. 

The origins of Covid on the compound are unknown, but workers in numbers up to a dozen can share “cramped living quarters”, the report says. Bloomberg said that conflicting reports indicated that isolated workers may have been deprived of proper meals. 

Recall, just days ago we wrote about Foxconn implementing health restrictions after a flare up of Covid. 

Foxconn’s Zhengzhou campus has about 300,000 workers — all have been banned from eating in public and must take meals back to their dorms for consumption, the South China Morning Post reported days ago, citing a notice on the factory’s official WeChat account.  

Additionally, it was reported Monday morning that production of iPhones from the plant could fall by as much as 30% due to the tightening curbs across the country.