- Tesla is isolating thousands of factory workers amid China's zero-COVID policy, Bloomberg reports.
- Workers are being quarantined in disused factories and an old military camp, it reported.
- The move is part of Tesla's plan to create a "closed-loop system" and avoid future shutdowns.
Thousands of Tesla workers in China are isolating in disused factories and an old military camp amid China's zero-tolerance policy for COVID-19 infections, Bloomberg reports.
Bloomberg cited people familiar with the situation who did not want to be named because the plans were private. The people said that workers were having to isolate for between 48 and 72 hours to join employees already inside Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory.
Tesla did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment made outside of normal working hours.
The move is part of Tesla's larger plan to create a "closed-loop system," where workers will live and work on the premises, to comply with China's strict zero-COVID restrictions.
The factory, which was responsible for half of Tesla's global production last year, was forced to shut for three weeks in March 2022 after Shanghai entered a strict lockdown to combat rising Omicron cases.
Insider previously reported that Tesla workers in Shanghai were eating and sleeping on the factory floor to avoid another shutdown.
Once the staff joins those already in the factory, they will be housed in temporary accommodation close to the Tesla plant. Workers will then be shuttled daily from the accommodation to the factory — creating a "bubble" and limiting employees' contact with the rest of society.
Space restrictions mean workers on opposing day and night shifts will have to share beds, Bloomberg's sources say.
It is not uncommon for Chinese manufacturing companies to have on-site accommodation for workers. In 2013, Insider reported that Chinese factory workers assembling Apple iPhones lived in on-site dorms at the Jabil Factory.