FILE PHOTO: Japan's Vice Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura speaks during the Reuters Japan Investment Summit in Tokyo May 19, 2014. REUTERS/Toru Hanai

TOKYO (Reuters) - A lockdown of major Japanese cities like Tokyo and Osaka to halt the spread of the coronavirus would have a “huge” impact on the economy, Yasutoshi Nishimura, the country’s economy minister, said on Tuesday.

Nishimura also said Japan was not a situation now where it needed to declare a state of emergency and the government would consider if it needed to so “comprehensively”.