AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)03/03 Report--

According to foreign media reports, an employee inside the BMW company was diagnosed with novel coronavirus, resulting in the immediate closure of BMW's Munich R & D center and quarantine of 150 employees.

The BMW employee was diagnosed with novel coronavirus after seeking medical treatment on March 1 and is currently in hospital for isolation and treatment in good health, the report said. BMW said the employee worked at the R & D centre in Munich, causing nearly 150 employees who had been in contact with it to be quarantined at home for 14 days.

A BMW spokesman said that the R & D center office has been temporarily closed and disinfected, but will not affect the daily operation of the group.

An employee at the BMW R & D center was diagnosed with novel coronavirus, the third case reported by the auto industry so far. In addition, employees of the global auto parts supplier Weibaster in Germany also diagnosed, resulting in the temporary closure of its headquarters and factory in Germany, while an employee at Hyundai's Ulsan plant in South Korea was also diagnosed with novel coronavirus, resulting in a complete shutdown of the plant.

If employees are infected with novel coronavirus, if there is also a diagnosis among those who are in close contact with him, the possibility of collective spread cannot be ruled out. Therefore, in order to prevent cross-infection among employees and the spread of the virus, companies and factories will be required to take emergency measures of temporary shutdown and shutdown, and contacts will isolate themselves for observation.

Even if an employee is diagnosed, it will cause part of the business to suspend operations immediately until the employee concerned is released from medical observation. Therefore, the novel coronavirus epidemic will have a serious impact on all kinds of enterprises around the world, and will face the test of epidemic prevention and control.

As of 15:00 on the 2nd, Germany has confirmed a total of 157cases of COVID-19, according to data released by the Robert Koch Institute of Disease Control and Prevention in Germany on March 2. The institute has adjusted the frequency of data release from once a day to twice a day. At present, 10 of Germany's 16 states have confirmed cases. German authorities have not reported the death of novel coronavirus.

The epidemic has an increasing impact on the automobile industry. Swiss officials had previously banned large-scale events with more than 1000 people, and the Geneva International Motor Show, originally scheduled for March 3-March 15, had to be cancelled, resulting in complete failure of manufacturers' preparations and investment.

Toyota, Nissan and General Motors overseas plants will all face disruptions in the supply of auto parts from China and will have to examine the temporary suspension of production or the switching of suppliers. Nissan is said to have purchased more than 800 parts from China's Hubei province, which requires companies to return to work no earlier than 24:00 on March 10.

Honda said on March 3 that it would temporarily cut production at two local factories in Japan because of difficulties in finding parts and shortages of parts for brakes and doors during the novel coronavirus outbreak.

In China, COVID-19 has an even greater impact on the automobile industry. After delaying the resumption of work, enterprises are also faced with the problem of slow supply or interruption of parts supply, resulting in limited production capacity. Once the supplier or the main engine factory has the employee infection, it will also lead to the suspension of production, so the enterprise should take good defensive measures and make a contingency plan.

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