Samsung Electronics on Saturday said that one COVID-19 disease case had been confirmed at its mobile device factory complex in the south-eastern city of Gumi. The top smartphone maker has shut down its entire factory there until Monday morning, reports The Malay Mail.
Samsung said the floor where the infected employee worked is now shut down until the morning of 25 February.
In a news release, the company said, “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.”
The Gumi factory accounts for a small portion of the company’s total smartphone production and mainly makes high-end models targeted at the domestic market. The bulk of Samsung phones (90 percent) are made in Vietnam and India.
Samsung said production of its chip and display factories in other parts of South Korea would not be affected.
Gumi is located close to the city of Daegu, where the Shincheonji Church of Jesus church is at the centre of South Korea’s biggest coronavirus outbreak. The number of people infected with COVID-19 in the country has spiked to 556, with 123 alone reported on Sunday. There have also been two additional deaths, bringing the toll to four.
Daegu is South Korea’s fourth-largest city with a population of 2.5 million.
In the space of just a few days, South Korea has become the worst-affected country by COVID-19 outside of China.
Globally, the number of reported cases stand at 78,620 across 29 countries with the death toll at 2,459.
In Malaysia, there have been 22 cases to date, with 17 recovered and discharged, while five are still being treated. There have been no deaths so far.
