International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach. (Kyodo)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach arrived in Tokyo on Thursday for the Olympics as the Japanese capital battles a spike in coronavirus infections and the likelihood increases that there will be no spectators in the stands when the games start in just two weeks' time.

       The IOC president arrived at Tokyo's Haneda airport, a day after the Japanese government informally decided to place the capital under another state of emergency until Aug. 22, amid rising concern that the Olympics could trigger a further surge in infections.

       With the decision, which is to be formally approved by the government later in the day, Japanese organizers are moving toward staging the games without spectators at venues in and around Tokyo.

       Bach is expected to hold a meeting with representatives of the Japanese bodies, including Seiko Hashimoto, who heads the organizing committee, and Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, as early as Thursday evening to decide on a new spectator policy.

       Having already barred spectators from overseas in March, the organizers decided late last month to allow up to 10,000 local fans per venue during the Olympics on the assumption that the coronavirus situation in the capital improves.

       However, Tokyo on Wednesday reported 920 new infections, registering the highest daily count since mid-May, while medical experts continue to warn of the dangers of going ahead with the games when many countries are grappling with the rapid spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus.

       According to the Japanese organizing committee, Bach will quarantine at his hotel for three days. He is set to visit the athletes' village in Tokyo's Harumi waterfront district and hold meetings with the organizing body, both in person and remotely.

       The IOC is also arranging for Bach to visit Hiroshima, which was devastated by an atomic bombing in the closing days of World War II, on July 16, the starting day of an Olympic truce adopted by the United Nations.

       IOC Vice President John Coates, who arrived in Tokyo earlier, is planning on the same day to visit Nagasaki, the other Japanese city hit by an atomic bomb in 1945.

       Coates drew criticism in Japan in May for saying that the Olympics can be held even if Tokyo is under a state of emergency.

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