The Latest: Doctors urge mosques close to curb virus threat

The Latest on the coronavirus pandemic. The new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.

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ISLAMABAD — Pakistani doctors with the Pakistan Medical Association have written a letter pleading with the country’s religious clerics and the prime minister to reverse a decision to leave mosques open during the fasting month of Ramadan warning it could result in an explosion of COVID-19 cases saying numbers are already on the rise at an increased rate throughout the country.

Large gatherings will only worsen the numbers and overwhelm the health care system that has less than 3,000 acute care beds for a population of 220 million people, says Dr. Qaiser Sajjad, secretary general of the Pakistan Medical Association and one of the authors of the letter. The numbers are escalating at roughly 500 a day, he said, and the large gatherings at mosques during Ramadan is certain to overcome doctors and paramedics, he warned in an interview.

Pakistan on Tuesday recorded its largest 24-hour increase of more than 700 new cases. On Wednesday, another 533 new cases were recorded, bringing the total positive cases in Pakistan to 9,749. There have been 209 deaths.

The Pakistan government has called for social distancing in mosques but has left it to the local clerics at each mosque to enforce the regulations, even as mosques have openly defied earlier orders to limit their congregation to just...