In the absence of a vaccine or highly effective treatments for COVID-19, combining isolation and intensive contact tracing with physical distancing measures might be the most effective and efficient way to achieve and maintain epidemic control.
This is one of the findings from new modelling research.
Using social-contact data on more than 40,000 individuals from the BBC Pandemic database to simulate SARS-CoV-2 transmission in different settings and under different combinations of control measures, the researchers estimate that a high incidence of COVID-19 would require a considerable number of individuals to be quarantined to control infection.
