The Tokyo Olympics will be held without spectators at venues in and around the Japanese capital due to a spike in coronavirus infections, organizers said Thursday after making the unprecedented decision just two weeks ahead of the opening of the global sporting event.

The announcement, abandoning their earlier plan to stage the Olympics in front of a limited number of fans, came after the Japanese government decided to put Tokyo under another state of emergency until Aug. 22, amid rising concern the games could trigger a further surge in infections.

In addition to Tokyo, the Olympics will be held behind closed doors at venues in Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama, three prefectures near Tokyo, Olympic minister Tamayo Marukawa said at a press conference. Some other venues of the Olympics are located outside the metropolitan area.

The new policy of barring spectators in the host city was agreed on at a meeting attended by International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach and representatives of the four bodies, the games organizing committee, the International Paralympic Committee, as well as the Japanese and Tokyo metropolitan governments.

"It is extremely regrettable that the games will be staged in a very limited manner in the face of the spread of novel coronavirus infections," Seiko Hashimoto, president of the organizing committee said. "I am very sorry for ticket holders and local residents who were looking forward to the games."

Also read: Japan to declare virus emergency lasting through Olympics

At the outset of the virtual meeting, which was open to the press, Bach said he and IPC chief Andrew Parsons continue to be "committed" to delivering the games safely with the Japanese organizers.

"We have shown this responsibility since the day of the postponement," Bach said. "And we will also show it today, and we will support any measure which is necessary to have a safe and secure Olympic and Paralympic Games for the Japanese people and all the participants."

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said at a press conference that the organizers will decide on how many spectators will be allowed at Paralympic venues after the closing of the Olympics.

Even with the decision, it is still uncertain what the Olympics will look like when they take place between July 23 and Aug. 8 following a first-ever postponement last year due to the coronavirus pandemic, despite the organizers' repeated pledges to stage a "safe and secure" games.

Having already barred Olympic spectators from overseas, the five organizers decided late last month to allow the venues' capacity to be filled up to 50 percent, a maximum of 10,000 people per venue, on the assumption the COVID-19 situation in Tokyo would turn for the better supported by Japan's belated vaccination rollout.

Also read: As Tokyo Olympics approach, virus worries rise in Japan

After Tokyo started to reel from a COVID-19 rebound, the Japanese government and the organizing committee once planned to lower the spectator cap to 5,000.

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.

On Thursday, Tokyo reported 896 new cases of the virus, exceeding the number logged a week earlier for the 19th straight day.

Since pushing back the games in March last year, the government had been hoping that having as many spectators as possible and inbound visitors to the country would help revive its economy from a coronavirus-induced downturn.

Not allowing fans in Tokyo will also deal a heavy blow to the organizing committee, which initially projected the ticket revenue to be 90 billion yen ($820 million).

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Bach attended the remote meeting from his hotel after arriving in Tokyo earlier in the day.

According to the 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 a U.S.-dropped atomic bomb in World War II, on July 16, the starting day of an Olympic truce adopted by the United Nations.