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Fear and anger inside the world’s largest iPhone factory as Foxconn workers vent about Covid-19 restrictions on social media
- Workers complain about unpunctual food deliveries and lack of medical care as Foxconn’s Zhengzhou campus grapples with a Covid-19 outbreak
- The company has not revealed how many positive cases have been found on campus nor how many workers are under quarantine
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Workers at the world’s largest iPhone factory, run by Foxconn Technology Group in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, have turned to social media for help amid strict pandemic control measures on campus that have been imposed since last week to curb a small Covid-19 outbreak.
Workers shared texts, photos and videos of chaotic scenes and voiced their anger on platforms including microblogging site Weibo and TikTok’s Chinese version Douyin, with many raising concerns that cases may have been under-reported, putting employees at high risk of infections.
Foxconn, also known as Hon Hai Technology Group, confirmed on Wednesday that a small number of workers on the Zhengzhou campus were affected by Covid-19, but said that production remained “relatively stable”, without elaborating.
The company said on Thursday it had no further information to provide about the situation inside its Zhengzhou facilities.
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How ordinary people in China view the country’s ‘dynamic zero-Covid’ policy
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It is unknown how many positive cases have been found on the campus, which has been sealed off to maintain operations in a “production bubble”, or how many Foxconn workers are under quarantine. Henan’s provincial health authorities said on Thursday they recorded 25 new cases, 20 of them asymptomatic, all located in Zhengzhou – the provincial capital.
The struggles experienced on the Foxconn campus, which has nearly 300,000 workers, reflect the challenge for the Chinese government as it seeks to meet economic targets while maintaining zero tolerance for any Covid outbreaks.
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