Xiaomi, Vivo, Samsung, and Oppo are among several smartphone makers that have been given the go-ahead by some state governments in India to begin partial activity at their factories. Assembly lines were stopped in late March in response to the coronavirus outbreak, but now it is deemed safe enough to begin work again with certain restrictions in place.
Each of the firms and their partners are taking different approaches to get manufacturing going again. Xiaomi’s partner, Foxconn, has said that operations will restart in the state of Andhra Pradesh, meanwhile, Wistron, one of Apple’s partners, has started limited operations in Bangalore. Vivo, Oppo, and Samsung are all starting up operations in the country too with limited personnel.
Samsung has said that its employees’ safety and well-being remains the priority at the moment and has ensured that hygiene and social distancing measures are in place and maintained at its facilities. It said the measures are all in-line with the government’s guidelines.
Earlier in the week, Samsung announced that it was planning to re-open its Smart Cafes and Smart Plazas in India, in accordance with the government’s announcement that permits limited trade in the orange and green zones of the country where coronavirus is less prevalent.
Those who go back to work with the opening of factories will be required to install the government’s Aarogya Setu contact tracing app. Unlike in the UK, where a contact tracing app will be voluntary, those in India, that need to go out to work, reportedly do not have a say on the matter.
Source: Techcrunch
