BEIJING (AP) — Access to an industrial zone in central China’s Zhengzhou city was suspended Wednesday after the city reported 64 coronavirus cases and workers who assemble iPhones from Apple Inc. . have left their factory in the area following epidemics.
READ MORE: Workers walk out of iPhone factory, pointing to virus issues
The announcement did not say whether the lockdown at Zhengzhou Airport Economic Zone was linked to cases at the Foxconn factory. He gave no indication of what prompted the shutdown. He said no one can come in or out for a week except to deliver food and medical supplies.
Separately, the government reported that 64 confirmed cases were found in Zhengzhou in the past 24 hours. He said 294 asymptomatic cases had also been discovered in the city of 12.5 million. He did not specify how many were in the industrial zone.
Meanwhile, the Macau government has announced that the southern Chinese territory will test its 700,000 people on Friday and Saturday. The government said mass testing was a precaution after an earlier round on Tuesday found no cases.
The ruling Communist Party is enforcing a “Zero COVID” policy that has closed areas across China for weeks to try to isolate every case.
That has kept China’s infection rate relatively low, but has disrupted trade and business at a time when other countries are easing anti-virus restrictions. Public frustration with the restrictions has turned into scuffles with police in some areas.
In Zhengzhou, everyone in the industrial zone will be tested for the coronavirus every day, the airport district said. He did not specify how many people might be affected.
Regions across China tightened movement restrictions and canceled airline flights last month after new infections spiked following the weeklong National Day holiday.
Residents of many parts of the Xinjiang region in the northwest were banned from leaving their homes in August and September. Residents of Urumqi and other cities who said they were running out of food and medicine appealed for help on social media.
Thousands of workers left the Foxconn Technology Group factory from mid-October after people who contracted the virus did not receive treatment. Some accused the company of failing to apply measures to prevent the spread of the virus.
Foxconn said Sunday it was using “closed-loop management,” an official term for employees living in their workplaces and avoiding outside contact. The company said sick employees were being treated but did not say whether new infections were still occurring.
Also this week, visitors to Shanghai Disneyland were temporarily banned from leaving as part of virus testing that the city government said on Tuesday had expanded to 439,000 people. The city’s health agency said visitors on Monday tested negative and were cleared to leave.
Last week, 1.3 million residents of downtown Shanghai’s Yangpu district were ordered to stay at home while being tested.
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AP Writer Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed.