TUESDAY, MAY 13, 2003
Motorola reopens China office after SARS scare
REUTERS
BEIJING: Motorola, the world's second-largest mobile phone maker and China's biggest foreign investor, said on Monday it had reopened its main office in Beijing and a staff member who contracted SARS was recovering.
About 1,000 employees returned to work after the office building was cleaned and other employees completed a two-week quarantine, spokeswoman Mary Lamb said.
"Everything is fully functioning and back to normal," she said. The office in Beijing, where SARS has struck harder than anywhere else in the world, had been closed since April 29.
The spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in China, with 240 deaths and 4,948 cases of infection by the latest count, has alarmed many foreign firms about the risk of doing business in a potentially lucrative market.
Lamb said the SARS-afflicted employee fell ill on April 24, and his condition was confirmed on May 1. He was expected to make a full recovery.
The firm, China's leading handset brand last year with 27 percent of the market, is fighting both foreign and domestic upstarts to keep its number-one position in the world's largest mobile market by users.
Shares in Chicago area-based Motorola closed Friday down four cents at $7.97 in New York.
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