LONDON — Every workday, Al-Hakim arrives at one of London’s largest public hospitals for a shift as a cleaner, earning little more than minimum wage even though his latest job includes disinfecting rooms reserved for suspected coronavirus patients.

He isn’t certain what he fears most: being exposed to the coronavirus himself, or having to be quarantined for 14 days, as he is one of thousands of private contractors, many of whom receive little sick pay. But he knows what he would do if he did contract the virus — report to work anyway, because he cannot afford to lose even a day’s pay.

“That’s going to be maybe suicide,” said Al-Hakim, who like several other health workers asked not to be identified by their full names, for fear of losing their jobs. “Let’s say I’m sick for one month now — how am I going to pay my rent? The bills are there — how am I going to cope?”

For the moment, Britain has managed to avoid a major outbreak of the coronavirus, with 51 confirmed cases. But as they move to emergency footing this week, government officials are preparing for the possibility that as much as one-fifth of the country’s work force could eventually require some form of sick leave.