Vietnamese authorities order quarantine at Samsung display plant

Samsung's Bac Ninh plant (Source: VIR.com)

Staff at Samsung's Bac Ninh factory in Vietnam have been ordered by local authorities to undergo quarantine. It follows a confirmed case of the COVID-19 virus in one employee, a 25-year-old worker on Samsung Display's quality-control unit, called EQC-SI.

Vietnam has currently very few cases of COVID-19 and this worker is being referred to by authorities as Patient 262. The worker has been self-isolating since April 7, and so was away from the factory. Accounts vary, but between 44 and 100 people he or she was in contact with at the factory have now been quarantined.

According to Reuters, the worker was tested positive on Sunday.

While only a small number of workers have been affected, overall Bac Ninh is a crucial facility for Samsung. It was the first plant the company opened in Vietnam in 2008, and between it and two further factories that followed, it is responsible for around a quarter of the country's approximately $60 billion annual exports.

It's not clear whether the Bac Ninh display plant specifically makes any screens for Apple. However, separately, Samsung has been working to increase all of its display production in the country. Reportedly, these expansion plans are being affected by the country's coronavirus policy which currently means Samsung cannot bring in engineers from other parts of the company.