Barely a week and a half after reopening its Greater Noida factory following a six-week shutdown, Oppo has closed down the plant once again after at least six employees there tested positive for COVID-19. The company is currently waiting for the test results of 3,000 of its employees at the factory, and plans to restart operations with only COVID-free workers once the results come back.

In a statement to ET, Oppo said: “we have suspended all operations at our manufacturing facility in Greater Noida and initiated COVID 19 testing for 3,000+ employees, for which results are awaited. (We) will only allow employees with negative test results to resume office following all safety protocols”. The company added that it is taking “stringent measures to keep the employees safe and disinfecting the premises”.

The outbreak of COVID-19 at the facility will likely create problems for not only Oppo, but also its sister company, OnePlus. OnePlus uses the same facility to assemble its phones in India. Therefore, it will be interesting to see if the availability of the OnePlus 8-series will be delayed in India because of the latest developments. The OnePlus 8 series is currently set to go on sale in the country from May 29th, starting at Rs. 41,999.

Following the six-week-long shutdown of all ‘non-essential’ businesses in UP, the state government earlier this month allowed Samsung, Oppo, Vivo and Lava to resume production at their respective manufacturing facilities in the Noida-Greater Noida belt. Oppo started operations at its Greater Noida plant at 30 percent capacity, with about 3,000 employees out of its total workforce of 10,000+ working in rotation from May 8th.