Tokyo 2020 had earlier confirmed that the early stages of the Flame's journey through the Tokyo area will also be held away from public roads.

The Metropolitan Government reported 593 new cases of coronavirus in Tokyo today, as the countdown to the Olympic Opening Ceremony on July 23 begins.

The Mainichi Shimbun, a leading Japanese newspaper, reported: "With the decision, uncertainty grows over how the coronavirus pandemic will affect the Olympics that are set to open in roughly two weeks."

Kyodo News suggested that "the recent rebound has fanned scepticism among people in Japan about going ahead with the Olympics".

The Flame is scheduled to begin the final stages of its 121 day journey with an "unveiling ceremony" at Komazawa Olympic Park Stadium in Setagaya City. 

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike is expected to be present to welcome the Torch.

Organisers said that, at each alternative lighting ceremony, "Torchbearers who were supposed to run will pass the Flame to the next Torchbearer via Torch kiss at the celebration venue".

In the previous week, the Torch Relay in Chiba Prefecture has also taken place under restrictions.

Distance runner Masako Chiba, who last carried the Torch during the 1998 Winter Olympic Opening Ceremony in Nagano, set the event in motion. 

Chiba was fifth in the Atlanta 1996 Olympic 10,000 metres and won bronze at the 1997 World Championships before moving up to the marathon.

At this distance she won a further World Championship bronze in 2003.

On the second day, the cauldron was placed at Makuhari Messe which will stage fencing, taekwondo and wrestling during Tokyo 2020.

Double Paralympic 100m T34 champion Noriko Arai was involved and it fell to baseball player Tomoya Satozaki, an Olympian in 2008, to light the cauldron on stage.

Former J-League football star Kazuyuki Kyoya was also among the bearers. 

He played for JEF United Ichihara before his spine was damaged in a traffic accident, and then forged a career as a wheelchair basketball player and played in four Paralympics.

The Flame returned to the road during a two day visit to Ibaraki Prefecture.

The cauldron was lit by Hideo Iijima, a double Olympic sprinter who competed at Tokyo 1964. 

Iijima was also the starter at the 1991 World Athletics Championships when Carl Lewis set a new 100m world record in Tokyo.

The Flame has now moved to Saitama Prefecture where 2012 Paralympic goalball player Aki Adachi, who scored the winning goal to win the title at London 2012, lit a cauldron at Tokorozawa Aviation Memorial Park.

This completed the first of three days in the prefecture.