SARS: 531 Motorola workers quarantined in Singapore

SINGAPORE - Mobile phone maker Motorola Inc said on Saturday a worker in its Singapore factory had been infected with the deadly pneumonia virus, causing it to pull 531 production staff from the factory floor and others to await quarantine orders.

Motorola was informed on Thursday that a night-shift worker had contracted the virus from a family member. It asked the night-shift workers not to report to work as a precaution.

"A number of that total will be receiving the [quarantine] order, it's going to be a proportion of that total number," a spokeswoman with Motorola, the world's number two wireless phone maker, told Reuters.

The government had advised it would be issuing quarantine orders to only those night-shift employees who worked in the same area as the affected employee so some staff have since returned to work, she said.

Local media said around 100 people had sat around the affected worker.
Reuters/abs-cbnNEWS.com