A major iPhone production contractor, Taiwan-based Pegatron, said it suspended operations in Shanghai and a nearby city amid an outbreak and strict travel restrictions.
China’s economic capital, populated by 25 million people, is currently facing the worst surge of COVID-19 since the outbreak began. The inhabitants have been practically all confined to their homes since the beginning of April.
“We have temporarily suspended work” in our factories, Pegatron announced Tuesday in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange, where it is listed.
The company says it is “actively cooperating with local authorities” and will resume operations as soon as possible.
The suspension applies to two of its subsidiaries, in Shanghai and the neighboring city of Kunshan.
Lockdowns and travel restrictions are straining supply chains in and around Shanghai. The port metropolis is an important entry and exit point for goods in China.
China’s health ministry on Wednesday reported nearly 28,000 new positive cases nationwide – including more than 26,000 in Shanghai.
Many factories have been forced to interrupt their activities due to the resurgence of contamination. In some cases, employees spend the night at their place of work in order to allow the company to continue to operate.
The suspension of Pegatron operations is another blow for Apple. The US IT giant has already been hit by other disruptions to supplier assembly lines in recent months.
In March, another of its major subcontractors, the Taiwanese company Foxconn, suspended production in Shenzhen, the major metropolis in southern China specializing in new technologies, due to a containment of the city.
The company said it had resumed most of its operations at the end of the month.
Chinese authorities are trying to maintain the flow of goods into the country despite travel restrictions taken to contain the outbreak.
A circular from the Ministry of Transport, issued Tuesday evening, prohibits the “blocking of vehicles and personnel in charge of road transport”.
Worried about food production, authorities in virus-hit provinces have issued passes to farm workers so they can reach farms.
Reference-www.journaldemontreal.com