Kunshan orders daily Covid-19 tests as Shanghai’s outbreak shuts Apple suppliers’ China hub, straining fragile supply chains
- All 2.1 million residents of Kunshan have been ordered to stay at home for the next four days, and be tested everyday for the Omicron variant of Covid-19
- Factories in the city have been instructed to halt production since April 2, according to company statements
Authorities in Kunshan have ordered residents to undergo daily nucleic tests until April 12, putting the city – a major enclave for Taiwan’s electronics producers – on alert as the Covid-19 outbreak in neighbouring Shanghai soared to a record for the seventh day.
All 2.1 million residents of Kunshan have been ordered to stay at home for the next four days, and be tested everyday for the Omicron variant of Covid-19, according to a statement by local authorities. Many factories in the city have been instructed to halt production since April 2, according to company statements.
The city, which reported 25 confirmed cases of Covid-19 infections on Friday, has gone into a citywide lockdown since April 6. Residents are confined at home, and only one person per household is allowed out to buy supplies and essentials every two days.
The stop work throws a wrench into the global supply chain of electronics and mechanical products, from printed circuit boards (PCBs), machine parts to the assemblies of original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Several of Apple’s biggest suppliers are based in Kunshan.
Companies that have halted production include the PCB manufacturers Elite Material, Unimicron and WUS Printed Circuit, while the OEMs Wistron Corporation and Pegatron Corporation also suspended their production of computers, communications and consumer electronics for branded vendors.