Scores of workers at the world's largest iPhone factory in central China have fled after a COVID-19 surge shut down production and saw operator Foxconn lock down the facility.
The Taiwanese tech giant's plant in Zhengzhou has been hit by a mass outbreak, with the company saying it is testing employees daily and keeping them in a closed loop.
Videos circulating on social media over the weekend appeared to show Foxconn employees fleeing the company's campus in Zhengzhou and returning to their hometowns on foot, in a bid to avoid COVID travel restrictions.
China is the last major economy committed to a zero-COVID strategy, persisting with snap lockdowns, mass testing and lengthy quarantines in a bid to keep infections down.
But fast-spreading virus variants have challenged that approach, with outbreaks hitting industries hard in recent months, as virus restrictions disrupt factories and curb consumer spending.