Forty percent of the competitions at the Tokyo Olympics may be held behind closed doors if organizers decide to cut the current attendance limit of 50 percent of venue capacity, up to 10,000 spectators, for each event, Kyodo News reported on Sunday.

A new wave of COVID-19 infections might have given the organizers reasons to reconsider how many spectators should be allowed into the venues. Coronavirus cases in Tokyo grew to 714 on Wednesday, the highest in more than a month.

That's why someone proposed to lower the cap down to 5,000 for each venue. Moreover, Kyodo News assumed that events with over 5,000 ticket holders or scheduled to happen after 21:00 (Tokyo Time) will take place behind closed doors.

The opening and closing ceremonies of the Games plus the baseball, football and athletics competitions all belong to the second category. To sum it up, more than 300 of the total 750 sessions will have to be held with no spectators if the new cap is introduced, according to Kyodo News.

A joint decision was made by the Tokyo Olympic committee, the metropolitan government, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee to reject overseas spectators in March. Then in June, the cap for attendance of domestic spectators at each venue was set at 10,000 or 50 percent of venue capacity.

"It will be better to have no spectators from the beginning than to switch to no spectators after a state of emergency is declared during the Games," one organizing official told Kyodo News.

Japan lifted its state of emergency about two months ago. Tokyo and three other prefectures are currently under a quasi-state of emergency, which will expire on July 11. Since COVID-19 infections have been rebounding, the country may have to extend it. If that happens, the organizing bodies will hold meetings to decide if the 10,000-cap will be cut by half.