"World's biggest manufacturer of surgical gloves will close over half of its factories after a surge in coronavirus cases among workers"

 And Bryce Elder can't get back to work soon enough for my tastes.*

From AFP via Yahoo Finance:

World's top surgical glove maker shuts factories due to coronavirus

A Malaysian company that is the world's biggest manufacturer of surgical gloves will close over half of its factories after a surge in coronavirus cases among workers, authorities said Monday.

Top Glove has seen a huge jump in demand since the start of the pandemic as countries scrambled to stock up on protective equipment, pushing up both its profits and share price.

But there has been a cluster of virus outbreaks among Top Glove employees -- many of whom are low-paid migrant workers -- at factories in an industrial area near the capital, Kuala Lumpur....

....MUCH MORE

*For all things Malaysian and/or latex, March 2020's:  

Attention Hoarders: "Condom shortage looms after coronavirus lockdown shuts world's top producer"

Thanks to FT Alphaville's Bryce Elder we were able to bring up in a casual conversation the Malaysian latex glove situation:
So, Did You Buy Your Malaysian Latex Glove Stocks Last Week?

...Following up on January 22's "FT Alphaville's Bryce Elder Is a Genius: Pandemic Coronavirus Edition".
From FT Alphaville's Markets Not Live column, January 27:

....To the wider market, and Wuhan’s got us all in check. Nearly everything (except the Malaysian latex glove sector) is down after the advance of the coronavirus, or 2019-nCoV, failed to slow through an extended Chinese New Year. The outbreak has reached “a grave and complicated stage”, Beijing officials said at a presser on Sunday. Most worryingly the virus appears to be contagious during the incubation period, when there are no visible symptoms, which means the Sars comparisons we’ve been using over the past few weeks may be optimistic.

To which our interlocutor, a Malaysian gentleman of Chinese extraction responded, also casually, yet proudly:

"Malaysia is also home to the largest condom manufacturer in the world."

Which prompted first the quick-on-the-uptake "Saaaay" reaction and then the placement of an order that (hopefully) may have raised some eyebrows at our favorite purveyor.
And today's story from Reuters:....