CHENNAI (Reuters) – Apple Inc supplier Foxconn restarted production at its plant in southern India on Wednesday, a company official said, about three weeks after it was closed because of protests over workers falling sick.

The company official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the factory reopened with one shift and 120 workers.

The plant, in the town of Sriperumbudur near the Tamil Nadu state capital of Chennai, employs about 17,000 people but was closed on Dec. 18 after 250 workers fell sick with food poisoning, igniting protests.

The official said it will take two months for full production to resume.

(Reporting by Sudarshan Varadhan; editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Jason Neely)