Foxconn factory in China: More corona cases, fewer iPhones?

In China, employees of the Apple supplier Foxconn have apparently fled after a corona outbreak. The plant is one of the most important production sites for iPhones.

The scenes are sometimes dramatic: Pictures and videos are spreading on the Chinese Internet showing hundreds of people who are apparently trying to flee a Foxconn plant. They climb over fences, run across harvested fields and let truck drivers take them to open loading areas.

The authenticity of the videos is difficult to verify. Some of the recordings are deleted by the censors.

It is clear that there was a corona outbreak in an iPhone factory in the city of Zhengzhou in the Henan region. However, details are not known. Recently there have been reports of medical undersupply and too little food. Scores of people have apparently been confined to their dormitories to try to contain the outbreak.

A third fewer iPhones in November?

Reuters news agency reports that iPhone production in Zhengzhou could fall by a third in November due to the outbreak. The Taiwanese company Foxconn produces about half of all iPhones worldwide in Zhengzhou for Apple. Between 200,000 and 300,000 people are employed there. Again and again there are reports of poor working conditions at Foxconn.

Numbers in China doubled within days

Overall, the number of new corona infections in China has recently skyrocketed. The number has doubled to around 2700 within a few days. There have not been as many cases in the People’s Republic since August. Compared to the rest of the world, the numbers remain low.

China’s state and party leadership still adheres to a strict zero-Covid policy. The smallest outbreaks are dealt with with strict lockdowns, travel bans, forced isolation and mass tests. The economy is therefore increasingly in crisis. The people of China are losing understanding of the measures.

But the government wants to stick to the zero-Covid strategy, said state and party leader Xi Jinping again at the Communist Party congress. There is no exit strategy. Millions of old people in the People’s Republic are still not fully vaccinated.