Table 1.

Intervention scenarios and policy insights

Intervention goal	Best intervention time & strength	Policy insights
Minimizing the second variant peak size	Delayed interventions with intermediate strength are best	Early detection allows longer planning periods
	Quick strong interventions lead to worst-case scenarios	Delayed and intermediate strong interventions are best
Minimizing the total peak size	Delayed interventions with intermediate strength are best	Intermediate interventions are always best
	The later the importation time, the lower the intervention’s strength required	Delayed interventions are best for importation before the first variant’s peak time
		Very delayed interventions are best for importation around the first variant’s peak time
Minimizing the total cumulative cases	For importation times before the first variant peak time, early and strong interventions are best	Strong interventions are always best
	For importation times during or after the first variant peak time, delayed and strong interventions are best	Depending on the second variant’s importation time, early or very delayed interventions are best