TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's foreign ministry said it had advised citizens to avoid non-essential and non-urgent travel to the United States because of the spreading coronavirus outbreak.

In a message on its web site, the ministry cited a national emergency declared by U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this month and the U.S. travel restrictions to curb transmission of the virus as the reasons for the tighter warning.

New York state, Illinois and Connecticut on Friday followed California in directing tens of millions of people to stay at home in the most sweeping U.S. social-distancing measures yet imposed in the escalating campaign to curb transmission of the coronavirus.