Samsung has already faced a lot of delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic over the past few months, and its profits have plunged. Now, its research center in Suwon, South Korea, has been temporarily closed after a confirmed case of COVID-19 was detected. The company has directed all of its 1,200 employees who work there to work from home.
It is being reported that a woman in her 50s, who is an employee of the service company that is in charge of cleaning the manufacturing plant, contracted the deadly virus. When she was informed on June 9 that her son was infected with the virus, the woman reported it to Samsung. On June 10, she was also found to be infected with the coronavirus. The South Korean firm immediately closed the two-story building where the woman worked.
Samsung has around 1,200 people working at the facility, including 1,000 researchers and about 200 visitors. The first and second floors of the building would be closed until tomorrow. The city's health authorities would conduct an epidemiological investigation on the infected woman to search for her close contacts and then perform tests on those people.
Around 230 workers at the facility have been tested already, and nine people working with the infected woman have been tested negative for the virus. A Samsung Electronics official said that everyone at the facility has maintained strict precautions and kept themselves safe by using masks and keeping a distance at the cafeteria. Work could resume at the facility very soon.