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iPhones (icon image): The plant in Zhengzhou employs more than 200,000 workers
Photo: Andrew Kelly / REUTERS
Production in the world's largest iPhone factory in Zhengzhou, China, has been hampered by a local corona outbreak - now retired military personnel are supposed to help out.
The call came from a People's Liberation Army Veterans Affairs Bureau in the same province.
In an open letter posted on messaging app WeChat, the bureau said the veterans are always under the command of the Communist Party and should "appear where needed."
It urged them to "heed the government's call" and "participate in restarting production."
70 percent of iPhone production
Foxconn, which is headquartered in Taiwan, has numerous factories in China.
The plant in Zhengzhou, a city of about 10 million people, employs more than 200,000 workers and produces 70 percent of the world's iPhones - about 500,000 a day.
The Covid wave in China earlier this year has forced the temporary closure of some Foxconn factories.
In order to keep production going, the Zhengzhou plant has been under a “Covid bubble” since early 2022.
All employees who test positive are sent to quarantine centers inside the factory - but this has not prevented the workers from becoming infected.
In October, some cases were detected at the factory - at the same time, the city of Zhengzhou announced a lockdown in some districts.
The actual number of infections at Foxconn has not been disclosed.
The outbreak of the disease caused panic in the factory.
Videos shared on social media showed scores of workers jumping over fences outside the plant to escape, Reuters reports.
Many Foxconn employees allegedly walked for miles down a street because there was no public transportation.
Foxconn's production has since been halted.
Research group TrendForce found that just over two-thirds of the production lines at the factory were operational.
The state-run Chinese newspaper Global Times estimated the need for 10,000 additional workers at the factory.
Online news site NetEast reports that Foxconn has asked the local government to send at least one person from each village to the factory.
The BBC, which also reports, was initially unable to verify this claim.
Foxconn and Apple have reportedly not yet responded to the BBC's requests for comment.
ani/Reuters
