Apple assembly partner Foxconn is once again restarting its iPhone production lines in China, and the company has taken additional steps to prevent a resurgence of COVID-19 coronavirus.
A Washington Post report shared by Business Insider indicates Foxconn is taking unprecedented steps to ensure its employees stay healthy and virus-free.
The firm’s Zhengzhou plant, where a large portion of iPhones are produced, sees employees separated into groups of 20 in an attempt to minimize exposure to the virus that causes COVID-19. The workers eat, sleep, work, and travel together.
The report says Foxconn has even installed dividers at cafeteria tables to prevent worker contact and is tracking employee movement by using QR codes on the cafeteria seats, which employees must scan.
Foxconn is also taking each employee’s temperature each day and tracks body temperatures in real-time using infrared cameras. High temperatures are an early indicator of COVID-19 infection.
The company is also producing around 2 million surgical masks each day for internal use.
Foxconn said it is following “all recommended health and hygiene practices … including the use of nucleic acid tests and chest X-rays when required.”
Foxconn shuttered its plants in Shenzhen and Zhengzhou in February, greatly reducing the global iPhone 11 supply. Production is currently ramping back up, and the company is hiring new employees as it readies for production of Apple’s “iPhone 12” lineup, which hopefully will see a release this fall.
