Volkswagen has temporarily shut down its plant in Tianjin due to a Covid outbreak in the workforce.

The car factory in northern China, which is about 100 kilometers from the capital Beijing, ceased operations at the beginning of the week after employees contracted the virus, a spokesman said on Thursday.

At the location, VW and its Chinese partner FAW operate a component plant and a factory for automatic transmissions. Both plants had tested all employees twice this week and were now waiting for the results. It is hoped to resume production soon and to be able to make up for the failures. Volkswagen has had to temporarily stop production at several locations in China since the outbreak of the pandemic a good two years ago.

As the authorities in the metropolis of Tianjin announced on Wednesday, the Omicron outbreak is spreading. Another 33 cases of the more contagious variant of the coronavirus have been discovered. The city ordered a second round of mass tests to test the entire population.

The first local omicron cases in China were detected in Tianjin on Sunday.

Health authorities expected further infections.

Omikron is likely to put China's strict zero-Covid strategy to the test with mass tests, curfews, quarantine and foreclosure.

The Winter Games are scheduled to begin in Beijing on February 4th.