Hundreds of thousands of workers at iPhone maker Foxconn Technology Group and Huawei Technologies Co. are being tested for Covid-19 as China’s latest outbreak shows no signs of easing, with cases cropping up across the country and technology hub Shenzhen on high alert, according to Bloomberg.
The government in the eastern metropolis of Zhengzhou, known to locals as iPhone City, required that all residents be tested on Friday, including hundreds of thousands of employees on the local Foxconn campus. Huawei’s research campus in Dongguan, meanwhile, started mandatory Covid testing Friday afternoon for all employees, along with staff from at least one manufacturing site in the southern city.
The moves came as Shenzhen discouraged people from leaving the city after separately reporting two new infections, according to a statement from local authorities. Those who need to exit will be required to provide a negative Covid test result starting Saturday.
China’s National Health Commission on Friday reported 116 new domestically-transmitted cases for the previous day, including 57 in the city of Xi’an and 56 in central Henan province. Three asymptomatic infections were found in Shanghai.
Still, officials expressed confidence that they would able to maintain China’s resolute Covid Zero stance. “Though we might expect more cases to keep coming, the risk of a substantial rebound in the outbreak has been largely contained,” Li Qun, an official with the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, was quoted as telling state-backed media about Xi’an’s flareup.
