Olympics: Tokyo 2020 preparing to deliver Games with COVID-19

The Games were already set to cost more than 1.35 trillion yen before the postponement, and increased spending might further alienate a public already sceptical of an Olympics they once embraced.

A recent poll conducted by Kyodo News found that fewer than one in four favoured holding the Games as scheduled next year.

Muto said meetings would be held starting in September, with members of the Japanese government and the local Tokyo Metropolitan Government on how best to rebuild support for the Games.

"By making a nationwide effort to implement all possible, conceivable measures to battle coronavirus, the people of the world will be able to come to Tokyo with a peace of mind,” he said. "Once we create such an environment, I think people’s opinions will change."