Still unexplained
The hunt for the origins of Covid-19 has for the past four years been a tangled web of politics, power struggles, and international finger-pointing.
With Indian government imposing 21-day complete lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), leading mobile phone companies are shutting down their operations at their manufacturing facilities based in India till further notice from the government.
Reports suggest that Samsung has already shut its Noida manufacturing factory and offices owing to the lockdown.
“At Samsung, health and safety of employees is our highest priority. As a measure to safeguard our employees and their families against Covid-19 and in compliance with directives from the government, we have decided to currently suspend our manufacturing operations and have asked employees at our sales, marketing and R&D offices across India to work from home,” said Partha Ghosh, Head, Corporate Communications, Samsung India.
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Similarly, iPhone manufacturers in India Foxconn and Wistron have also temporarily closed their production facilities, keeping the safety of the workers and complying with the government’s decision at their manufacturing plants in the country.
Foxconn and Wistron took the decision to shut their facilities after receiving notification and instructions from local authorities, local media reports suggested.
Apple supplier Wistron assembled low-end iPhone SE (now discontinued) and is now assembling iPhone 6S and iPhone 7 at its Bengaluru facility. The highest-selling iPhone XR is now being manufactured at Apple supplier Foxconn’s facility in Sriperumbudur, Chennai.
Both Foxconn and Wistron are also the key manufacturing partners to many other companies apart from Apple, including Xiaomi.
Several other smartphone makers are also impacted due to the nationwide lockdown including the likes of Xiaomi, LG, Motorola, Vivo, Oppo and Realme and have suspended production.
India has 649 cases of COVID-19 and death toll rose to 16 with Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh recording their first coronavirus deaths.
(With input from agencies)
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