But the information is denied by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
- I am determined to realize a safe and secure game, as proof that humanity will overcome the virus, says Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga according to the news agency AFP.
His words come after the British The Times reported that the Olympic Games will be canceled.
- Nobody wants to be the first to say that, but the consensus is that it will be too difficult, says a government source to The Times, about whether the Olympics can be completed.
The spread of covid-19 is considered too extensive and the government is working to try to come up with how to announce that the games must be canceled, the source states.
Instead, Tokyo is now said to want to invest in getting the next Olympics on tour that has not already been assigned a host city, the one to be held in 2032.
The government denies
The government has quickly announced that the information is incorrect.
"We will clearly deny the article," Manabu Sakai, the government's deputy press secretary, told a news conference on Friday, Reuters reported.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga does not explicitly deny the information, but says that the government is working to get rid of the Olympics.
The organization for the Tokyo Olympics gives one in a statement an answer similar to the Prime Minister:
"Prime Minister Suga has firmly stated that the games will be carried out, the government holds a series of coordination meetings regarding the efforts against covid-19 and implements thorough measures against the virus in order to be able to arrange the games," the Olympic organizers write, according to AFP.
Already postponed
The Olympics have already been postponed for a year and the organizers have previously said that it will not be relevant to move the games further.
Both the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Government of Japan and the country's Olympic Committee have publicly maintained that the Games will be inaugurated as planned.
As recently as Thursday, IOC chairman Thomas Bach assured that the competitions will end.
"Right now, we have no reason at all to believe that the Tokyo Olympics will not be inaugurated on July 23," Bach told Kyodo News.
Skeptical population
In a speech to parliament the other day, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga also said that Olympic planning is moving forward.
But many Japanese are skeptical about completing the games.
Around 80 percent of the population does not want the Olympics to be held this year, opinion polls have shown.
The country's 126 million inhabitants have so far escaped covid-19 relatively easily.
More than 4,800 deaths have been reported and 350,000 have been diagnosed with the infection in Japan, but the spread of the infection has increased sharply in the past month and in large parts of the country there is currently a state of emergency.