Virus fears: Tajikistan closes mosques

Tajikistan's national council of clerics told mosques to suspend public gatherings, including Friday prayers but excluding burial rites, to protect against the coronavirus, even though the country has not reported any cases. The Muslim-majority Central Asian nation of 9 million people bordering China and Afghanistan has shut its border to citizens from both neighbours as well as South Korea, Iran and Italy, all hard hit by the coronavirus. The outbreak originated in China.