Smartphone giant, Samsung Electronics, announced on Saturday that a confirmed case of the coronavirus was found at its facility in the southeastern city of Gumi. This has prompted the company to shut down the plant until Monday morning.
The floor on which the infected worker was stationed will be shut down till the morning of February 25, while the entire facility will be closed till the morning of February 24, the company said. Also, the staff members who were found to have come in contact with the employee have been placed in quarantine.
"The company has placed colleagues who came in contact with the infected employee in self-quarantine and taken steps to have them tested for possible infection," Samsung said in a news release, according to Reuters. A senior correspondent with the BBC also tweeted the same.
Other facilities not to be affected
The production at factories in other regions of South Korea where the company's displays and chips are manufactured will not be hampered said Samsung. The South Korean multinational conglomerate's manufacturing unit in Gumi contributes to only a small part of its overall production of smartphones.
Most of the phones that Samsung manufactures are produced at its units India and Vietnam. The shut unit largely serves the domestic market and produces high-end phones.
Proximity to the city of Daegu
Interestingly, Gumi is situated within the close proximity of the city of Daegu—the city where the country's biggest outbreak was reported at a church. The Shincheonji Church of Jesus—the epicentre of the local outbreak—has so far thrown up over 150 confirmed cases.
A 61-year-old attendee has been traced as the cause of the rapid spread. Despite, developing symptoms of the novel coronavirus infection on February 10, she attended service on multiple occasions.
Daegu outbreak causes a sharp spike in the national total
With the sudden surge in the number of infections owing to the church outbreak, the number of cases reported in South Korea has seen a massive spike. Currently, 433 cases have been confirmed and two deaths have been reported.
The global death toll worldwide stands at 2,361 while the total number of infections has increased to 77,917. China's Hubei province—the ground zero of the infection—has reported 76,291 cases and 2,250 deaths, making it the worst-hit region.
(With inputs from agencies)
