Overwhelmed by a flurry of 'unsolved' cases (that is, cases with no obvious connection to the outbreak in China, or anywhere else), Japanese health authorities announced on Tuesday a new plan intended to focus the country's precious medical resources on the most serious cases, while advising those with mild symptoms to treat themselves at home.

The approach differs markedly from the heavy handed tactics employed by Beijing, which at its peak had 760 million - roughly half the country - under some form of lockdown restriction.

According to the Washington Post, the "basic premise" of the Japanese plan is that the virus can't be stopped. That's right: The Japanese are essentially acknowledging that the thesis proposed by Harvard epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch - ie that 70% of the world's population might someday contract the virus - has at least some legitimacy.