As the global spread of the novel coronavirus intensifies, with countries going on lockdown and governments issuing stop-work orders, temporary migrant workers are bearing the brunt of it – with little choice between protecting themselves from the virus and earning a living.

Of the 164 million migrant workers around the world, 42 million work in labor-intensive jobs such as construction, farming and services. Many live in cramped conditions, which are perfect breeding grounds for viruses.

"Workers are more afraid of the financial disaster than they are of the virus... They don't worry so much about falling sick, but they worry about being unable to work, no income and possibly cancellation of their work permits," said Alex Au, vice-president of Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2), a pro-migrant worker non-profit organization in Singapore.

Cramped dormitories – petri dish for viruses

TWC2 observed that a typical workers' dormitory in Singapore has between 12 and 20 people in a room with double-decker beds. These rooms sometimes only have a single window.

Official guidelines dictate each occupant should have a 4.4-square-meter area. These also include shared toilets, washing facilities and common areas.

"So, in effect, the ratio in the sleeping area is probably more like one worker per 2.5 square meters," Au explained to CGTN Digital. That is just a little more than a single-sized bed.

Social distancing has been touted as the most effective way to prevent the spread of viruses. While this may be possible to a certain extent at work sites, the real test comes when migrant workers return to their dormitories at the end of the day.

In Singapore, at least five clusters of the coronavirus were traced back to these workers' dormitories, a construction site, and a shipyard.

Of the city state's more than 1,000 cases, some of 130 reported were Bangladeshi, Indian and Myanmar nationals working in the country, according to the Health Ministry. That's a little over ten percent of total cases.

Authorities have appealed to dormitory operators to step up epidemic prevention efforts or face legal consequences.

Kong Chee Min, chief executive of Centurion Cooperation, which manages Westlite Papan, a dormitory operator with five compounds and 28,000 beds for foreign workers, said, "They have been preparing us ahead of time, so it helps us in terms of planning, including catering of food, delivering it to the workers, having Wi-Fi in the rooms, and managing the flow of workers, so that they are not always being cooped up in the rooms," reported the Straits Times.