Workers receive relief money from railway officers as authorities suspended nation-wide railway service as a preventive measure against the outbreak of coronavirus, in Quetta, Pakistan, April 17, 2020. (AP Photo/Arshad Butt)

ISLAMABAD (AP) -- Even as Pakistan's daily confirmed cases inches upward, Prime Minister Imran Khan's government buckled to pressure from religious clerics refusing to order mosques throughout the country closed during Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.

Pakistan recorded 7,993 confirmed cases on Sunday, an increase of 514. Sixteen people died of the virus in the last 24 hours bringing the death toll to 159. But in Pakistan religious clerics have become a powerful force, holding sway often using fear of bringing mobs onto the street as leverage to force the government to bow to their demands.

Pakistan has been blamed for contributing to the outbreak of the virus in other parts of the world including Gaza after it refused to stop a gathering of tens of thousands of Tableeghi Jamaat (Islamic missionaries) until early March. By the time it was cancelled thousands were already in Pakistan and many returned to their countries infected. In Pakistan there are still several hundred of the Tableeghi jamaat in quarantine because they tested positive and hundreds more who spread throughout the country carrying the virus.

By some estimates nearly 2,000 confirmed cases in Pakistan can be traced to the Tableeghi Jamaat. Yet Khan's government agreed Saturday to leave the mosques open and instead requesting the faithful to practice safe social distancing. The request is not likely to be followed after several prominent religious clerics called for adherents to pack the mosques.