COVID-19 and Rumors: A Dynamic Nested Optimal Control Model

•Designing an interactive mathematical model framework that integrates COVID-19 and rumors outbreaks.•Formulating a nested optimal control model with COVID-19 model as the outer model and rumors model as the inner model.•Minimizing the number of COVID-19 infected individuals and the rumors spreaders. Furthermore, minimizing the total cost associated with various intervention strategies.•Proposing a solution methodology based on the collaboration between the genetic algorithm and the model and the modified approximation KKT to solve the proposed model.•Investigating the sensitivity of the time-varied inputs of the optimal control by evaluating a novel set of control strategies to determine the optimal strategy.