Cities in central China rapidly devised measures to segregate returning migrant workers from Foxconn’s sizable assembly plant in COVID-stricken Zhengzhou city in order to prevent coronavirus outbreaks.
The number of locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in Zhengzhou, the provincial capital of Henan, increased from 97 to 167 in the seven days leading up to October 29. The number of affected employees at Taiwan-based Foxconn, which employs roughly 300,000 people in Zhengzhou, has not been made public.
Localities must move quickly to contain any outbreaks under China’s strict zero-COVID regulations, which may involve measures like complete lockdowns. On October 19, Foxconn prohibited all dining in at canteens and mandated that employees eat in their dorm rooms, but it claimed that output was unaffected.
Since Saturday, numerous images and videos have been making the rounds on Chinese social media, showing Foxconn employees walking across fields during the day and along roadways at night. The validity of the posts could not immediately be confirmed by Reuters.
According to social media posts, locals apparently showed their support by leaving food, water, and posters that read “For Foxconn workers coming home,” along with main routes.
In response to Reuters questions, a Foxconn representative was unable to answer right away.
In a post regarding the social media images, a user of WeChat said that the people in the pictures were Foxconn workers who had escaped from the factory and were walking home.
“Some folks were carrying their bags, comforters, and blankets while strolling through wheat fields. I couldn’t help feeling depressed.”
Cities close to Zhengzhou, like Yuzhou, Changge, and Qinyang, as well as Xuzhou’s Weiqu district and Xihua county, advised Foxconn employees to notify local authorities in advance of their plans to return home.
In separate letters posted on their respective social media profiles and written to Foxconn employees in Zhengzhou, they stated that returning employees must travel “point-to-point” in pre-arranged vehicles en route and must be quarantined upon arrival.
The Foxconn factory workers who were originally from the county will be brought back straight by a special vehicle, according to Xihua county, which assured them that they would not be turned away but that counter-epidemic precautions needed to be implemented.
