The issue is the overcrowding

Emergency measures: Migrant workers in the dining area onboard a cruise ship that the Singaporean government rented as temporary housing in May to deal with the spike in Covid-19 cases caused by overcrowded workers’ quarters. – Filepic/AFP

MANY have long suspected that overcrowded accommodation is what is fuelling the rise in the number of Covid-19 cases.

Overcrowded workers’ housing, detention centres and prisons make it impossible to practise physical distancing, helping the virus to spread. Public health experts had already warned earlier of the need to deal with this when a glove manufacturer’s quarters for workers emerged as a major cluster in Selangor, followed by other workers’ housing.