iPhone factory prepares to shift production amid Covid outbreak; new report supports Covid lab leak theory

Apple’s main iPhone assembler is preparing to shift production in China where Covid cases are rising, amid new evidence to support the Covid lab leak theory.

Apple’s main iPhone assembler in China said it was preparing to shift production to other parts of the country after masses of workers began fleeing its main hub amid a worsening Covid outbreak.

Last week the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou had seen workers at one of the biggest factories producing Apple iPhones plead for food and medical supplies.

A “small number of employees” have been asked to quarantine according to a company statement issued to the New York Times.

Two workers also told the Financial Times the factory failed to deliver food regularly to staff under quarantine.

“We’re in peak production season right now so we need a lot of assembly-line workers … our company is co-ordinating backup production capacity at other sites,” a spokesperson for the Foxconn plant told Chinese state media.

A health worker takes a swab sample from a man to test for the Covid-19. Picture: AFP

On Monday, Shares in Hon Hai Precision Industry, Foxconn’s Taiwan-listed entity, fell 1.4 per cent.

“With the current pandemic situation it is a protracted war to do a good job keeping more than 200,000 employees safe,” Mr Foxconn said in a stock exchange filing on Sunday evening.

The outbreak comes as Apple is in full swing with production of its new iPhone 14 worldwide.

It comes as Wuhan reported around 20 to 25 new infections a day last week, which prompted local authorities to order more than 800,000 people in one district to stay at home until Sunday.

The sale of pork has been suspended in parts of Wuhan, according to images and posts on social media, after one Covid-19 case was found that authorities said was linked to the local pork supply chain.

“I don’t know what to do. If we can still survive living like this then I suppose that’s what we’ll do,” Wuhan resident surnamed Chang, 38, told Reuters.

“When we see these news stories about Covid, we now feel a bit numb. We feel numb to it all. We feel more and more numb.”

More streets and neighbourhoods were sealed in Guangzhou on Thursday — China’s fourth biggest economic output — as people were kept in their homes and new areas deemed high-risk in a Covid-19 resurgence that persisted into its fourth week.

“Many of my friends and co-workers have been under lockdown at home,” Guangzhou resident Lily Li, 28, told Reuters.

“The situation is still unstable. Many places are under lockdown. Classes have stopped and entertainment venues have been suspended too. The gym that I often go to has also been closed.”

As of October 24, 28 cities were implementing varying degrees of lockdown measures, with around 207.7 million people affected in regions that comprise around 25.6 trillion yuan ($3.55 trillion) of China‘s gross domestic product, according to Nomura.

That’s the equivalent of nearly a quarter of China’s 2021 GDP.

HIDDEN TEXTS SUPPORT LAB LEAK THEORY

A new bombshell report may support claims that the Covid virus leaked from a Chinese lab in Wuhan before causing a global pandemic that has killed millions.

The investigation, led by ProPublica and done in collaboration with Vanity Fair, examined and supported findings of the interim report released last week by Republicans that concluded “the Covid-19 pandemic was, more likely than not, the result of a research-related incident.”

The P4 laboratory, centre, on the campus of the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in China. Picture: AFP

Toy Reid, an expert in “official speak” used by Chinese elites, was a member of the nine-person investigative team tasked with finding the cause of the virus.

Mr Reid uncovered documents from mid-November 2019 that contained cryptic references to a “grave situation”, “hidden dangers” and “severe consequences”.

He believes updates from the Wuhan Institute of Virology sent weeks before the first official case of Covid in China detailed an ongoing crisis at the lab that Xi Jinping may have been dealing with personally.

However, while it’s impossible to know exactly what was discussed, Mr Reid and three other experts agreed the documents appeared to reference an ongoing crisis that happened to take place before Wuhan was overrun by Covid.

Documents from mid-November 2019 that contained cryptic references to a “grave situation”. Picture: Getty Images

The latest evidence forms part of a 500-plus page report put together by the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, in which a 35-page summary was released last week.

The summary, which does not include much of the evidence the team gathered, concluded that Covid “most likely” leaked from a lab and that evidence pointing to a natural spillover is “still missing”.

“These viruses come without a shadow and leave without a trace. Although [we have] various preventive and protective measures, it is nevertheless necessary for lab personnel to operate very cautiously to avoid operational errors that give rise to dangers,” the report said.

“Every time this has happened, the members of the Zhengdian Lab Party Branch have always run to the frontline, and they have taken real action to mobilise and motivate other research personnel.”

Originally published as iPhone factory prepares to shift production amid Covid outbreak; new report supports Covid lab leak theory