Foxconn to Isolate Workers for Up to Two Weeks at iPhone Base

(Bloomberg) --

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. plans a quarantine of up to two weeks for any employee that returns to work at its main iPhone-making base, a precautionary measure to curb the novel coronavirus that may hurt Apple Inc.’s production.

Apple’s most important manufacturing partner still intends to officially resume work Feb. 10 after an extended Lunar New Year break intended to combat the outbreak. But Hon Hai said in a statement Wednesday that workers returning from outside Henan province, site of its main factory in Zhengzhou, will be sequestered for 14 days. Any staff reporting to work who reside within the province itself will be isolated for 7 days, the company added.

Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn, makes the vast majority of the world’s iPhones from Zhengzhou, central China. The company has become a high-profile symbol of how the outbreak, which has killed about 500 worldwide, could disrupt the world’s supply of made-in-China electronics.

--With assistance from Mark Gurman.

To contact the reporter on this story: Debby Wu in Taipei at dwu278@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net, Edwin Chan, Colum Murphy

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