Zhang Yao recalls the moment he realized something had gone horribly wrong at the Chinese mega-factory where he and hundreds of thousands of other workers assembled iPhones and other high-end electronics.

In early October, supervisors suddenly warned him that 3,000 colleagues had been quarantined after someone at the plant tested positive for Covid-19.

“They told us not to take our masks off,” Zhang, who spoke under a pseudonym for fear of reprisals, told AFP over the phone.

What followed was a week-long ordeal of food shortages and the ever-present fear of contagion before finally escaping on Tuesday.

Zhang’s employer, Taiwanese tech giant Foxconn, said it faces a “protracted battle” against infections and imposed a “closed-loop” bubble around its sprawling campus in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou.

Local authorities cordoned off the area around the Apple supplier’s factory on Wednesday, but not before reports of workers fleeing on foot and a lack of adequate medical care at the plant emerged.

China is the latest major economy to commit to a zero-Covid strategy, sticking to quick lockdowns, mass testing and lengthy quarantines to contain emerging outbreaks.

But new variants have tested officials’ ability to extinguish flare-ups and disrupt economic activity with the risk of sudden disruptions.

Several workers have recounted scenes of chaos and increasing disorganization at Foxconn’s workshop and dormitories complex, which forms a city within a city near Zhengzhou Airport.

Zhang told AFP that “positive tests and double lines (on antigen tests) had become a common sight in his workshop” before he left.

“Of course we were scared, it was so close to us.”

“People with a fever are not guaranteed to take medication,” another Foxconn employee, a 30-year-old man who also requested anonymity, told AFP.

“We’re drowning,” he said.

Those who decided to quit their jobs were not offered meals in their dormitories, Zhang said, adding that some are able to survive on personal supplies of instant noodles.

Kai, a worker at the complex who gave an interview to state-run Sanlian Lifeweek, told Foxconn magazine that the “closed circuit” involved blocking paths between the dormitories and the factory, and complained that he was left to his own devices after being thrown into quarantine.

TikTok videos geolocated by AFP in late October showed piles of uncollected rubbish outside buildings as staff wearing N95 masks squeezed into packed shuttle buses taking them from dormitories to their workplaces.

A 27-year-old woman who works at Foxconn and asked not to be named told AFP a roommate who tested positive for Covid was sent back to her dorm crying on Thursday morning after she decided to hand in her resignation during the quarantine.

“Now the three of us live in the same room: one a confirmed case and two of us have tested positive for the rapid test and are still awaiting our nucleic acid test results,” the worker told AFP.

Many were so desperate late last month that they tried to walk back to their hometowns to avoid Covid curbs.

As videos of people lugging their suitcases along highways and struggling uphill circulated on Chinese social media, authorities rushed in to do damage control.

The Zhengzhou municipal government said Sunday it had arranged special buses to take employees back to their hometowns.

The surrounding province of Henan has officially reported an increase of more than 600 Covid cases since earlier this week.

When Zhang finally tried to leave the Foxconn campus on Tuesday, he found the company had built up one obstacle after another.

“There were people with speakers announcing the latest Foxconn policy and saying there would be a 400 yuan ($55) bonus every day,” Zhang told AFP.

At a pick-up point, many employees gathered in front of empty buses, but were not admitted.

People in hazmat suits, colloquially known in China as “great whites,” claimed they were sent by the city government.

“They tried to persuade people to stay in Zhengzhou… and not go home,” Zhang said.

“But when we asked for their work ID, they had nothing to show us, so we assumed they were actually from Foxconn.”

Foxconn cited Wednesday’s local government lockdown orders when asked by AFP if any attempts were made to prevent employees from leaving the company, with no further reply.

The company said Sunday it was “providing employees three free meals a day” and was working with the government to provide transportation home.

Eventually, the crowd of dissatisfied workers that had gathered decided to take matters into their own hands and walked more than seven kilometers to the nearest freeway entrance.

There, other people posing as government officials asked employees to wait for the bus.

The crowd had no choice as the road was closed.

The buses finally arrived at 5 p.m. – almost nine hours after Zhang began his attempt to secure the transport.

“They tried to put us down,” he said.

Back in his hometown, Zhang is now awaiting the home quarantine period mandated by the local government.

“I just feel that I finally left Zhengzhou,” he told AFP news agency.