“The chickens have come home to roost as a result of years of government neglect and employers’ focus on profits over decent work and minimum standards of housing for workers,” he said in a statement.

The Klang MP noted that the vast majority of reported clusters have originated from workplaces in the manufacturing, construction and services sectors.

“We must therefore address the root causes and rethink our strategy to contain the virus as our economy cannot afford another lockdown.”

He said the poor living and working conditions don’t allow for social distancing or effective quarantining, adding that the government must establish a local council-led taskforce to engage with employers, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders to implement and monitor Covid-19 mitigation efforts.

“Local councils will have a good sense of building space available in their respective areas, which could be used either during quarantine or for employers who might want to secure more space for their workers to ensure physical distancing.

“All infected workers should be isolated in recovery facilities stipulated by the government task force,” he said.

Santiago also suggested that budget hotels, government-run dorms and underutilised government properties could all be converted into makeshift quarantine centres.

“We need to rethink our strategy as it appears that the quarantining of workers is not working because dormitories are designed to pack (in) as many people as possible.”

Further, he said the process of testing workers must also be re-evaluated, with undocumented migrant workers granted amnesty for six months to encourage them to come forward for testing without the fear of legal consequences.

“The cumulative number of screenings is just 12% of the documented migrant worker population. If we add up the undocumented workers, the screening rate is completely insignificant with less than 4%,” he added.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST DATA ON THE COVID-19 SITUATION IN MALAYSIA