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.

TOP OF THE HOUR:

— AP Exclusive: ER staff saves lives, suffers in hot spot

— Pakistani doctors urge leaders to close mosques during Ramadan.

— Health officials say 2 died with coronavirus in California weeks before 1st reported U.S. death from disease.

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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 five. Television footage continues to show adherents at mosques praying side by side.

Prime Minister Imran Khan has dismissed criticism, ordering law enforcement not to harass worshipers going to mosques even as other Muslim countries close mosques to stem the outbreak in their countries.

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SINGAPORE — Singapore’s coronavirus infections surged past 10,000 after it reported 1,016 new cases Wednesday.

The tiny city-state’s tally rose to 10,141, maintaining its position as the worst-hit nation in Southeast Asia. It marked a third day in a row of new cases above 1,000 but its death toll remained at 11.

The health ministry said the vast majority of the new cases are again linked to foreign workers’ dormitories, which have been locked down and virus testing ramped up to curb transmission.

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SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Health officials say two people died with the coronavirus in California weeks before the first reported death in the United States from the disease.

Santa Clara County officials said Tuesday the people died at home Feb. 6 and Feb. 17. The first reported death in the nation from the virus was on Feb. 29 in Kirkland, Washington.

The Medical Examiner-Coroner received confirmation Tuesday that tissue samples sent to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested positive for the virus, officials said.

The announcement came after California Gov. Gavin Newsom promised a “deep dive” update Wednesday of the state’s ability to test for the coronavirus and to track and isolate people who have it. That is one of the six indicators he says is key to lifting a “stay-at-home” order that has slowed the spread of the disease while forcing millions of people to file for unemployment benefits.

“This will go to the obvious questions and queries that all of us are asking: When? ... When do you see a little bit of a release in the valve so that we can let out a little of this pressure,” Newsom said Tuesday.

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TOKYO — Japanese officials say 33 more crew members on an Italian-operated cruise ship docked in southern Japan have tested positive for the coronavirus, one day after the first case from the ship was reported.

The Costa Atlantica has been docked in Nagasaki since late January for repairs and maintenance by the Mitsubishi Heavy Industry. The potential for an outbreak surfaced Tuesday when a crew member, identified only as a foreign national, tested positive for the virus.

The ship carries 623 crew members, including a Japanese translator, and no passengers. So far 34 crew members have tested positive, while 25 others were negative. One result was pending.

None of the crew members had serious symptoms and they are being self-quarantined in single rooms on the ship, officials said.

Mitsubishi officials said only crew members without a record of traveling to high-risk countries such as China and Italy in the past two weeks who showed normal body temperature have been allowed to go on and off the ship. The company on Tuesday said no crew members had left the ship since mid-March.

Nagasaki officials said they are investigating how and where the crew members contracted the virus.

As infections in Japan continue to spread nationwide, the outbreak on the cruise ship adds to concerns about testing and hospital capacity in Nagasaki, where only 102 beds are available. All of Japan is now under a coronavirus state of emergency.

Earlier this year, a U.S.-operated cruise ship carrying more than 3,700 people quarantined in Yokohama, near Tokyo, had 712 cases in a massive on-board outbreak. Separately, Japan has about 11,500 cases, with 280 deaths.

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BEIJING — China on Wednesday again reported no new deaths from the coronavirus, but registered 30 more cases — 23 of them brought from abroad.

Of the domestic cases, all seven were reported in Heilongjiang province near the Russian border where a field hospital has been set up to deal with a new flare-up related to people coming home from abroad. Just over 1,000 people are hospitalized for treatment, while about the same number are under isolation and monitoring as either suspected cases or after testing positive but showing no symptoms.

China has reported a total of 4,632 deaths among 82,788 cases, the bulk of them in Wuhan where officials recently raised the death toll by 50% after a review of records.

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ATLANTA — Even with many former virus hotspots seeing a reduction in new deaths and hospitalizations, a flurry of cancellations of major events made it clear Wednesday that efforts to return to normal life could still be a long and dispiriting process.

In just the past day, the U.S. scrapped the national spelling bee in June, Spain called off the Running of the Bulls in July, and Germany canceled Oktoberfest five months away. Singapore, once a model of coronavirus tracking and prevention, saw an explosion of new cases and announced it would extend its lockdown into June.

Nevertheless there was growing impatience over virus-related shutdowns that have thrown tens of millions out of work, and more countries and U.S. states began taking steps to get back to business.

Business owners in the U.S. who got the go-ahead weighed whether to reopen, and some hesitated, in a sign that commerce won’t necessarily bounce back right away.

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