Hyundai Motor suspends factory operations as worker acquires coronavirus

Hyundai Motor closed its factory in South Korea on Friday after one of its workers was confirmed to be infected by the novel coronavirus. The factory operations are suspended indefinitely with popular car models including Palisade sport utility vehicle production being disrupted.

After the news broke, Hyundai Motor’s shares in the stock markets slid 5%. The factory shutdown compounded to the already burdened company as the virus outbreak continues.

South Korea is listed next to China with the number of cases of the new coronavirus, hurting big companies in the country including tech giant Samsung and automaker Hyundai. 256 new cases were recorded on Friday in the country, tallying a 2,022 total number of people infected with the virus. A global recession is feared to clobber the markets soon.

The company suspended its operations indefinitely as it reported that it was disinfecting the factory. The disinfected factory is located in Ulsan, along with four other factories of the carmaker company. Almost 30% of the entire global production of Hyundai is held in Ulsan factories along with its 34,000 workers.