TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Chinese authorities in Zhengzhou on Wednesday (Nov. 2) placed the world’s largest iPhone assembly site, run by Taiwan’s Foxconn, on lockdown in response to a local COVID outbreak.

The move to quarantine the Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone follows reports that employees have been fleeing to escape the restrictive environment over the past few days. Placing the factory under a “static management” policy, a euphemism for total lockdown, also comes a day after reports that Foxconn plans to decrease production at the facility over the coming months.

During the recent COVID flare up at the Zhengzhou site, workers were only able to travel between the factory and their dorms under a closed-loop system. However, under the new restrictions, no one will be permitted to leave their living quarters except for COVID tests and emergency medical treatment, reports AFP.

As China struggles to maintain its zero-COVID policy, factory workers have complained of increasingly unsafe and inhumane working conditions. The new restrictions could heighten tensions between authorities and the local workforce, as well as throttle production at the Foxconn iPhone facility.