China halts operation at Korean chip plant after worker tests positive for coronavirus

A Chinese factory owned by South Korean semiconductor giant SK Hynix Inc halted operations on Sunday after a plant worker was found to have an asymptomatic infection of the novel coronavirus, the local health commission said.

The Korean worker based at the plant in Chongqing City since February had departed from Shuangliu International Airport on Thursday for South Korea. He was tested at Incheon airport in Seoul and confirmed positive for the novel coronavirus on Saturday.

The Chongqing government has temporarily shut down the company and the hotel he had stayed in.

All factory staff as well as staff and recent guests at the hotel where the worker lived have been isolated and given nucleic acid tests, according to local authorities.

“We’re cooperating with the local government on their containment efforts, and at the same time trying to resume production as soon as possible,” said a spokesman at SK Hynix.

SK Hynix, the world’s No. 2 memory chip maker, employs about 2,700 workers in the Chongqing facility, including some Koreans.

The city has carried out nucleic acid tests on 3,283 people, with 2,674 found negative, said Li Pan, deputy director of Chongqing Health Commission.

Almost 500 environmental samples had also been collected, and all of them returned negative.

A total of 49 close contacts of the individual and their 100 close contacts have been put under medical observation.