Indonesia quarantines 43,000 in Chinese-backed industry park
More than 40,000 workers at a vast Chinese-controlled industrial complex on Sulawesi island in Indonesia have been quarantined over fears about the spread of a deadly coronavirus strain which has killed more than 200 people in China, according to an AFP report.
The complex is a nickel mining hub run by PT Indonesia Morowali with 43,000 staff who are now barred from entering or leaving without written permission. Among them, there are some 5,000 guest workers from mainland China at the huge site which hosts nickel ore smelters and stainless steel production.
Employees at the 2,000-hectare facility, majority owned by China’s Shanghai Decent Investment Group, are undergoing medical tests and none has been found to be infected so far, said company spokesman Dedy Kurniawan.
The firm has also imposed a ban on employees or guests from overseas entering the complex and installed thermal scanners at its entrance, he added.
Evacuation of Indonesian nationals from China prepared
The lockdown at the Indonesian plant comes as Indonesia said on January 31 it was preparing to evacuate more than 240 nationals stranded in China near the epicenter of the virus within the next 24 hours.
Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, is at the center of the outbreak which is believed to have originated in a market that sold wild animals. The city of 11 million has since experienced an unprecedented lockdown, preventing residents from leaving in a bid to stop the deadly virus from spreading further.
Indonesia attracts more than one million Chinese tourists annually to Bali and other holiday hotspots, and also hosts thousands of guest workers from major investor China.
The country has not reported any confirmed infections so far, contrary to Thailand with 15 infected people as of January 31, the most in Southeast Asia. Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines also detected infected people, while no cases have been reported from Laos and Brunei yet.
More than 40,000 workers at a vast Chinese-controlled industrial complex on Sulawesi island in Indonesia have been quarantined over fears about the spread of a deadly coronavirus strain which has killed more than 200 people in China, according to an AFP report. The complex is a nickel mining hub run by PT Indonesia Morowali with 43,000 staff who are now barred from entering or leaving without written permission. Among them, there are some 5,000 guest workers from mainland China at the huge site which hosts nickel ore smelters and stainless steel production. Employees at the 2,000-hectare facility, majority owned by...
More than 40,000 workers at a vast Chinese-controlled industrial complex on Sulawesi island in Indonesia have been quarantined over fears about the spread of a deadly coronavirus strain which has killed more than 200 people in China, according to an AFP report.
The complex is a nickel mining hub run by PT Indonesia Morowali with 43,000 staff who are now barred from entering or leaving without written permission. Among them, there are some 5,000 guest workers from mainland China at the huge site which hosts nickel ore smelters and stainless steel production.
Employees at the 2,000-hectare facility, majority owned by China’s Shanghai Decent Investment Group, are undergoing medical tests and none has been found to be infected so far, said company spokesman Dedy Kurniawan.
The firm has also imposed a ban on employees or guests from overseas entering the complex and installed thermal scanners at its entrance, he added.
Evacuation of Indonesian nationals from China prepared
The lockdown at the Indonesian plant comes as Indonesia said on January 31 it was preparing to evacuate more than 240 nationals stranded in China near the epicenter of the virus within the next 24 hours.
Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, is at the center of the outbreak which is believed to have originated in a market that sold wild animals. The city of 11 million has since experienced an unprecedented lockdown, preventing residents from leaving in a bid to stop the deadly virus from spreading further.
Indonesia attracts more than one million Chinese tourists annually to Bali and other holiday hotspots, and also hosts thousands of guest workers from major investor China.
The country has not reported any confirmed infections so far, contrary to Thailand with 15 infected people as of January 31, the most in Southeast Asia. Singapore, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines also detected infected people, while no cases have been reported from Laos and Brunei yet.
