Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer Foxconn has received a stamp of approval to restart work at a plant located in the northern Chinese city of Zhengzhou that had been shut out citing the coronavirus crisis, according to information provided by an insider with knowledge of the matter to Reuters on Monday.

The unnamed source said nearly 16,000 employees, which translates to just under 10 percent of the company’s workforce in Zhengzhou, have resumed work at the plant. Furthermore, the person that the company executives have left no stone unturned in an attempt to work out a deal with authorities to reinstitute production in other parts of China.

This turn of the event can be attributed to the coronavirus outbreak, which is touted as a global health emergency by WHO (World Health Organization). As a result, Chinese manufacturing has been critically affected, leaving policymakers no choice but to come up with preventive strategies to firm up the economy.

As far as Foxconn is concerned, the held up the resumption of work is likely to negatively impact shipments to consumers such as Apple, while having a major impact on the global technology supply chain, a source with access to the matter told Reuters. Foxconn is currently trying to restart production at Kunshan, Shenzhen and other key plants, according to an unnamed source who wasn’t permitted to speak publicly on this matter.

Editor’s Choice: World’s biggest contract smartphone manufacturer, Foxconn partners with Fiat to Build Electric Cars

In a statement, Foxconn pointed out that the safety of its employees is the priority. The company said it is currently working with the authorities to acquire permission to resume production in China “in a staggered and orderly manner.”

A large number of Foxconn employees have resumed work after a long Lunar New Year holiday. They have been advised to put on masks, follow a specific dining system and go through temperature checks, as per internal memos spotted by Reuters.

The source said senior Taiwanese officials who needed to return to China had to first get approval from Foxconn’s new Chairman Liu Young-Way. The popular device maker for global OEMs has set up production lines in the southern province of Guangdong to manufacture masks for its huge employee base, aiming to make a whopping two million masks daily after reaching full capacity towards the end of this month, the memos revealed.

UP NEXT: Apple iPhone production will be affected due to Foxconn factory halt after Coronavirus Outbreak

(Source)

The post Taiwan’s Foxconn Gets a Stamp of Approval to Resume Work at a Plant in Zhengzhou, China: Reuters appeared first on Gizmochina.

After the city of Wuhan entered a state of lockdown yesterday, tech companies in China are coming forward to help medical professionals as well as residents who are fighting the spread of the virus in the city. After JD.com and Douyin (TikTok’s Chinese version) came forward to help, Xiaomi has also announced emergency assistance worth 300,000 yuan (~$43.2K) to the city of Wuhan.

Xiaomi revealed via its official Weibo account that the Group has sent out the first batch of medical supplies to Wuhan which includes N95 masks, medical masks, and thermometers. The first batch shipped out to the affected city from various centers last night. The equipment is expected to arrive at Wuhan’s epidemic prevention and control headquarters tonight. The company added that they are monitoring the epidemic’s status and will continue to allocate supplies to help out the city.

Editor’s Pick: Xiaomi’s XiaoAi adds a pneumonia coronavirus shortcut card for live info on the epidemic

The Coronavirus, known to cause a special case of lethal pneumonia, is said to have originated from the city of Wuhan in China. The city went into a state of lockdown yesterday with major flights and long-distance transport systems suspended for the foreseeable future. Wuhan is the seventh most populous city in China with a population of over 11 million. Given how most of these residents are not allowed to leave the city until the epidemic is controlled, help is pouring in from different parts of the country.

The Beijing based JD.com (Jingdong), one of the biggest online retailers in China announced today that it would donate 1 million medical masks and 60,000 medical supplies to Wuhan, in batches. The Chinese version of the TikTok app called Douyin has a dedicated #FightPneumonia page in their app (spotted by Businessinsider) that provides updates on the spread of the app as well as relevant information on its prevention. The app also added a ‘Jiayou video effect’ (as spotted by analyst Daniel Ahmad) to support the medical staff, doctors, and patients in the city.

UP NEXT: Face Masks sold out amidst Virus outbreak, JD.com bans sellers artificially raising prices

The post Xiaomi sends out N95 Masks & Thermometers worth 300K yuan to Coronavirus affected Wuhan city appeared first on Gizmochina.