photo by: Associated Press

Empty parking spaces surround the Kansas Statehouse In Topeka, Kan., Wednesday, March 25, 2020. The Statehouse is closed to visitors. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

Story updated at 4:37 p.m. Wednesday

MISSION — Gov. Laura Kelly’s executive order restricting the size of religious gatherings amid the coronavirus outbreak was overturned Wednesday after the state’s top prosecutor said it likely violates the state constitution.

With Easter just days away, the Legislative Coordinating Council voted 5-2 to undo the order that limited in-person religious services and funerals to 10 people. The move came after Attorney General Derek Schmidt, a Republican, said that while the order was “sound public-health advice that Kansans should follow,” he was discouraging law enforcement agencies and prosecutors statewide from attempting to enforce the requirements.

Violations of the order could have been prosecuted as a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 and 12 months in jail.

Senate President Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican, said her phone had been “ringing off the wall” since Kelly, a Democrat, issued the order Tuesday because of three outbreaks that had been connected to religious gatherings.

“It appears to be out of line and extreme and clearly in violation, a blatant violation, of our fundamental rights,” said Wagle, an abortion opponent, who questioned why clinics were still being allowed to perform abortions while restrictions were being placed on churches.

But Kelly’s chief legal council, Clay Britton, had defended the order, saying there was a “compelling need to act” because health and emergency management officials had determined that the virus was being spread through church gatherings. Britton said that overturning the order could lead to “confusion.”

Lawmakers gave the council, the top seven legislators from both parties in both chambers, the right to review all of Kelly’s executive orders and to overturn many of them within days. Conservative Republicans were upset with an order from Kelly to close K-12 schools for the rest of the spring semester and wanted to block her from using sweeping gubernatorial powers granted to deal with short-term disasters.

The state has 12 COVID-19 clusters in which a combined 165 people have been sickened, with three of them connected to religious events, health officials say.

Meanwhile, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the state grew Wednesday to 1,046, up from 900 Tuesday, with 38 deaths, up from 27 Tuesday.

Correction: The Associated Press has updated its story to correct that 165 cases are connected to 12 clusters, three of which are connected to religious events.