Exploring the effectiveness of coupled control measures on strain diversity and epidemic spread

The rapid globalization and expansion of transportation networks have significantly increased cross-regional population mobility, contributing to the frequent re-emergence of pandemics. Alongside viral mutations and immune escape, these factors complicate epidemic control. Within a meta-population framework in this study, we propose a dual-intervention model that combines regional containment strategies with strain evolution dynamics to explore how these interventions influence both infection spread and strain diversity. Our simulations reveal that while strain-targeted interventions moderate infection densities, they inadvertently trigger compensatory growth of non-targeted dominant strains. Regional interventions in high-density areas effectively lower infection levels, but they have a limited impact on controlling strain diversity. In contrast, our dual-intervention model, which addresses both spatial and evolutionary aspects, reduces the spread of dominant strains, lowers overall infection rates, and offers a more effective strategy for managing harmful variants.