SINGAPORE – Singapore is assessing whether migrant workers recovering from coronavirus can be safe on cruise ships back in the dormitory, which have become infection hotbeds, despite problems that control ship outbreaks elsewhere.

Housing complexes for foreign laborers in the city-state have seen an increase in large-scale virus cases, its biggest jump in cases on Thursday, and hundreds of workers looking for new housing solutions.

About 60% of the 4,427 people infected on the island live in the dormitory, where predominantly South Asian laborers live 12 to 20 in a room, and some workers said that sharing toilets is uneven in the conditions.

“Cruise ships are being considered as they have readily available rooms and en-suite toilets to minimize person-to-person contact,” the city-state’s tourism board said in an e-mailed statement on Friday.

It said that this measure could be initiated for workers who have recovered from coronavirus and tested negative, helping free space in the dormitory. Authorities are also moving some healthy workers from dorms into public housing, military camps and industrial ships used to accommodate offshore staff.

Medical experts say that people rarely catch infectious diseases, as they are isolated in some cases, although such cases have been reported separately since the epidemic began in China in December.

Two ships owned by Genting Cruise Lines, that could each accommodate up to 2,000 people, were being checked to see if they had suitable ventilation systems, security protocols and infection control measures, the tourism board said.

Cruise ships have also been at the center of a massive outbreak during the coronaires epidemic that claimed more than 130,000 lives and infected more than two million people globally.

One of the most notable incidents involved a diamond princess that was extinguished in Japan for about a month, eventually infecting more than 700 people.