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Samsung reopens smartphone factory after coronavirus scare

Samsung resumed operations of one of its factories which had been temporarily shut down over the weekend due to the coronavirus.
Written by Cho Mu-Hyun, Contributing Writer
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Samsung Electronics has resumed operations for its handset factory in South Korea on Monday after it was temporarily shut down due to a coronavirus infection.

Its factory at Gumi, a city southeast of the capital Seoul, was shut down over the weekend after one of its employees was confirmed to have contracted the virus. Samsung has since applied disinfection procedures for the whole factory during that time.

The company makes handsets for the local market as well as high-end phones such as the Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy Fold for global sales at the factory.

"As of 1 pm KT [Korea Time], the Gumi Complex has started normal operations and we expect no impact on production," Samsung said in a statement to ZDNet.

On the same day, compatriot LG Electronics also shut down its research complex at Incheon following the discovery that a child of one of its employees had contracted coronavirus.  

Last week, South Korean memory maker SK Hynix imposed quarantines for hundreds of its employees after one of them made contact with a confirmed patient.

Since earlier this month, Samsung has been advising employees to wear masks and avoid large gatherings.

As of Monday, South Korea has 763 confirmed cases of the virus with seven dead, making it the largest cluster of coronavirus cases outside of China, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

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