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China orders lockdown in Zhengzhou after iPhone factory protests
Residents of Zhenghzhou's city centre cannot leave the area unless they have a negative Covid test and permission from authorities, and are advised not to leave their homes "unless necessary", the local government said.
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This image grab taken from AFP video footage and posted on November 23, 2022 shows workers at Foxconn’s iPhone factory in Zhengzhou in central China clashing with riot police. Violent protests have broken out around Foxconn's vast iPhone factory in central China, as workers clashed with security personnel over pay and living conditions at the plant.
(AFP/AFP)
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central Chinese city home to a vast iPhone factory has ordered an effective Covid lockdown for several districts, after violent protests that saw demonstrators clash with police erupted at the facility.
Residents of Zhenghzhou's city centre cannot leave the area unless they have a negative Covid test and permission from authorities, and are advised not to leave their homes "unless necessary", the local government said.
The restrictions, which will last five days from midnight Friday, affect more than 6 million people -- about half the city's population.
The government notice, issued late Wednesday, also requires the residents of eight districts to take a nucleic acid test every day during the five-day period.
Zhengzhou's order came after violent protests broke out at the city's vast iPhone factory complex.
The factory, owned by Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn, has itself been under Covid restrictions for over a month amid spiralling cases in its worker dormitories.
Footage emerged last month of panicking workers fleeing the site on foot in the wake of allegations of poor conditions at the facility.
The Zhengzhou government on Wednesday said the city's outbreak was "still severe and complicated".
The country's daily tally of Covid cases hit a record high on Thursday, at 31,454 domestic cases -- relatively small compared with China's 1.4 billion population but exceeding the peak recorded in mid-April when Shanghai was under lockdown.
Zhengzhou on Thursday recorded 675 new Covid infections -- the vast majority of which were asymptomatic.
On Thursday, Foxconn 2317.TW said a "technical error" occurred when hiring new recruits at a COVID-hit iPhone factory in China and apologised to workers after the company was rocked by fresh labour unrest.
Men smashed surveillance cameras and windows as hundreds of workers protested at the plant in Zhengzhou city on Wednesday, in rare scenes of open dissent in China sparked by claims of overdue pay and frustration over severe COVID-19 restrictions.
Workers said on videos circulated on social media that they had been informed that Foxconn intended to delay bonus payments. Some workers also complained they were forced to share dormitories with colleagues who had tested positive for COVID.
"Our team has been looking into the matter and discovered a technical error occurred during the onboarding process," Foxconn said in a statement.
"We apologize for an input error in the computer system and guarantee that the actual pay is the same as agreed and the official recruitment posters."
The largest protests had died down by Thursday and the company was communicating with employees engaged in smaller protests, a Foxconn source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The Taiwanese company said it would try to solve concerns and meet worker demands, with "corresponding care subsidies" offered to those who want to return to their hometowns.
The Zhengzhou plant employs more than 200,000 people to make Apple Inc devices including the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max.
The person said the company had reached "initial agreements" with employees to resolve the dispute and production at the plant continued on Thursday.
