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China’s coronavirus lockdowns spread across much of the nation this week, hitting large cities and manufacturing hubs in what the state-run Global Times conceded was a “grim epidemic situation.”
The Global Times reported Henan province is bracing for “potential [Chinese coronavirus] outbreaks in the winter and next spring,” which suggests residents of the provincial capital Zhengzhou should enjoy the lifting of coronavirus restrictions in select “low-risk areas” while they can.
Zhengzhou is the location of the Foxconn plant, the world’s largest factory for assembling Apple’s iPhones. Terrified workers are scrambling over fences and fleeing the city to escape a potential lockdown after a rash of Chinese coronavirus infections was reported at the facility.
The Global Times reported that Zhengzhou officials are simultaneously pleading with Foxconn workers to remain calm and regard Chinese coronavirus as a treatable disease of moderate severity – an astonishing 180-degree turn from the Communist Party’s usual rhetoric – and offering rides home to the workers who insist on leaving:
An additional 200 staff doing nucleic acid tests have been dispatched to the Foxconn production plant, as a way to detect the infectors as soon as possible amid several rounds of nucleic acid test, in order to curb the virus spreading, according to the local authorities on Monday.
