KARACHI: Holy Quran tutor Muhammad Asim should have been packing to leave his Karachi home for Makkah next week to perform one of the most sacred, once-in-a-lifetime obligations for Muslims, the Hajj pilgrimage. But that was before the coronavirus hit.

Asim, 30, is one of 2.5 million Muslims globally, almost 180,000 from Pakistan, whose plans were upended when Saudi Arabia restricted this year's event to only 1,000 local residents, savaging Pakistan's 160 billion rupee ($1 billion) Hajj industry.

Indonesia and Pakistan, the largest Muslim-majority countries by population, send the most pilgrims.

"I prayed for the chance to go on Hajj and Allah answered my prayers," Asim, selected from tens of thousands of applicants for a government-supported package, told Reuters. "But then he sent this coronavirus."