'Daegu Business Trip Restriction and Remote Work' Electronics Industry on High Alert Due to COVID-19

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] As the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) spreads nationwide, the electronics industry has entered a state of emergency. Major companies such as Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, and SK Hynix have taken proactive measures, including refraining from domestic and overseas business trips and strengthening quarantine efforts.

According to industry sources on the 22nd, Samsung Electronics' Visual Display (VD) division reportedly sent a notice via email and other means to employees the previous morning, advising them to refrain from business trips, cancel group dinners and training sessions. It is also known that shuttle bus operations between the Gumi and Suwon plants have been suspended.

The Device Solutions (DS) division, responsible for semiconductors, has also decided to refrain from business trips to the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions and minimize meetings. Movement between the Hwaseong plant in Gyeonggi Province and the Onyang and Cheonan plants in Chungnam Province has reportedly been prohibited.

Additionally, Samsung Electronics has reported suspected COVID-19 cases at some plants, including Seocho and Hwaseong, and employees who worked in the same spaces have been sent home while contacts are being investigated.

LG Electronics on the same day recommended all employees to refrain from business trips between plants. In particular, business trips to the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions are being postponed or replaced with video conferences. Furthermore, the company is reportedly allowing employees who have visited those regions to work from home.

LG Group affiliates operating factories in Gumi, including LG Electronics, LG Display, and LG Innotek, have also decided, in principle, to prohibit entry to the workplace for residents of Daegu and Cheongdo regions and those who have visited these areas.

Among Gumi plant employees commuting from Daegu, those who have visited the same locations as confirmed cases in Daegu will be handled as follows: office workers will work from home, and production workers will be granted paid leave, a type of official leave.

SK Hynix also placed about 800 employees at the Icheon campus under self-quarantine on the 20th after it was revealed that a new employee had come into contact with a confirmed case in Daegu. Earlier, on the 19th, about 280 trainees who were attending training with the new employee at the SKHU training center on the Icheon campus were sent home, and the training center was closed.

SK Hynix explained that there are about 18,000 employees working at the Icheon campus and that factory operations are not affected.