A window of opportunity for intensifying testing and tracing efforts to prevent new COVID-19 outbreaks due to more transmissible variants

Background: When public health interventions are being loosened after several days of decline in the number of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases, it is of critical importance to identify potential strategies to ease restrictions while mitigating a new wave of more transmissible variants of concern (VOCs). We estimated the necessary enhancements to public health interventions for a partial reopening of the economy while avoiding the worst consequences of a new outbreak, associated with more transmissible VOCs.