Toyota said two assembly plants building the Yaris sedan and Hilux halted production on Thursday. Operations there from Friday onwards will be decided later, a spokeswoman said.

Honda temporarily idled two factories in Penang and Malacca from Wednesday, a Honda spokesman said. At the Malacca plant, the automaker builds Civic and Accord cars.

The Malaysian lockdown took effect at midnight on Wednesday, barring all social activities and interstate travel nationwide.

(Reporting by Eimi Yamamitsu, Maki Shiraki; editing by John Stonestreet)