Controlling a Pandemic: An Account of Successfully Applying Control Theory to the Covid-19 Pandemic in Denmark [Applications of Control]

The contagious coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Observing the virus spreading rapidly to other countries across the world led the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020 and to characterize the outbreak as a pandemic on 11 March 2020. In response to the WHO warnings, each country across the world had to design a strategy to mitigate the consequences of the pandemic (see “Summary”).