Employees of some major Korean companies are staying at home as a precautionary measure as the country scrambles to contain hundreds of coronavirus infections.
Around 1,500 workers of Samsung Electronics’ phone complex in the south-eastern city of Gumi have self-quarantined after one of its workers was infected with the disease, someone familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The floor on which the infected employee worked is expected to resume production on Tuesday.
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“The Gumi Complex has started normal operations and we expect no impact on production,” Samsung said in a statement, without elaborating further.
Samsung’s Gumi factory accounts for a small portion of its total phone production but makes premium and foldable phones.
The country’s third-largest conglomerate, SK Group, which controls memory chip maker SK Hynix and mobile carrier SK Telecom, has advised its employees to work remotely starting from Tuesday due to the coronavirus outbreak.
A factory run by Hyundai supplier Seojin Industrial was closed over the weekend after the death of a virus-infected worker. It is unclear when production will resume.
There has been no production disruption so far as the company has enough inventory, according to a Hyundai Motor spokesman.
Appliance maker LG Electronics said it had closed a research facility in Incheon, near Seoul, after an employee’s family member was confirmed to have contracted the virus. The facility is expected to reopen on Tuesday, an LG spokesman told the New York Times.
South Korea reported 231 more cases of the virus that causes the disease Covid-19, bringing the nation’s total to 833 cases and seven deaths.
Many of South Korea’s coronavirus cases are in the south-eastern city of Daegu, which has been placed under a state of emergency.
