Samsung Electronics's Gumi office worker was confirmed to have a new coronavirus infection on Feb. 22, and the company's smartphone-producing workplace was temporarily closed.
The company will resume normal operation from Feb. 24 after precise quarantine between the weekends, but some of the damage is expected from the shutdown.
According to Samsung Electronics, after confirming the virus infection of a 28-year-old employee at the Gumi workplace, the company immediately contacted the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention to examine the colleagues who came into contact with the confirmed patient.
The company has also temporarily shut down its Gumi workplace after having all of its employees return home early. The Gumi workplace will be closed by the morning of Feb. 24 and the floor where the patient worked will be closed by the morning of Feb. 25 for precise quarantine.
The company also plans to identify the movements of its colleagues who have made contacts with the confirmed person and further take measures such as self-isolation, inspection, and other measures.
Gumi is a unit of Samsung Electronics' second division that produces foldable smartphones and is responsible for producing Galaxy Z Flip, which was recently released.
A company official said, “We are shutting down the workplace during the weekends and from the afternoon of Feb. 24, we will resume the normal operation so that there will be no special problem in the production and supply.”
However, concerns are mounting that if such business suspension cases resulting from the outbreak of the novel coronavirus increase, it will inevitably deal a blow to the overall production and supply chain in the industry.