TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Work at a Pegatron Corporation plant in Taoyuan City will stop for five days after the discovery of a COVID-19 cluster involving at least 60 employees, reports said Saturday (April 23).
The city reported 527 new cases Saturday out of 4,126 nationwide. Over 60 were at Pegatron, mostly residents of a dormitory for migrant workers, and 16 at a hospital, according to the Liberty Times.
The cluster at Pegatron in Guishan District might expand to more than 500 people, or between 20% and 30% of the factory’s 2,600 employees, Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) said at a news conference Saturday.
In any event, the number of COVID-positive cases at the plant will increase significantly on Sunday (April 24), he predicted. A total of 1,627 employees working in high-risk areas are being tested.
With work at the factory halted for five days, several rounds of testing will be necessary before the safety of workers can be guaranteed, according to the Liberty Times.
Earlier, Pegatron also suspended operations at plants in the Chinese cities of Shanghai and Kunshan amid the Chinese government’s tough COVID-19 restrictions. The Taiwanese company’s products include Apple’s iPhone 13.