A coronavirus outbreak has taken place at Hyundai Heavy Industries' Ulsan shipyard in South Korea.
Six shipyard workers have tested positive for Covid-19 since the first case emerged five days ago. The infected workers are said to be from the yard’s block fabrication division.
An HHI official confirmed the outbreak of Covid-19 at the Ulsan shipyard, the flagship facility under the umbrella of Seoul-listed Hyundai Heavy Industries Holdings. He said the yard stopped work at the unit where workers tested positive for the virus.
The yard carried out Covid-19 tests for around 2,000 workers on Thursday and all results came back negative.
The Ulsan facility employs around 27,000 workers, including subcontractors.
The HHI official denied talk that the yard has quarantined 2,000 to 3,000 shipyard workers and operations have been been put on hold.
“Its not so many people that’s been placed under quarantined,” he said without disclosing the exact number.
“Only those that were working closely with the infected workers have been placed in quarantine.
Others were asked to self-isolate at home. Our shipyard has been operating as per normal since yesterday,” he said on Friday.
HHI said it is stepping up efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19 by conducting daily temperature checks for shipyard workers. It has stopped holding face-to-face meetings for the time being and is not allowing gatherings of more than 10 people.
“Half of our office workers are also working from home as compared to the previous 30%,” said the HHI official. “We have also installed plastic screens at the shipyard canteens as part of measures to make the place safer during the Covid-19 outbreak.”
Shipbuilding players said HHI is the first shipyard in South Korea to have workers who have contracted Covid-19 since the pandemic hit the country early this year.
