A mathematical model to study the spread of COVID-19 and its control in India

Abstract

Abstract In this article, a nonlinear mathematical model is proposed and analyzed to study the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and its control. Due to sudden emergence of a peculiar kind of infection, no vaccines were available, and therefore, the nonpharmaceutical interventions such as lockdown, isolation, and hospitalization were imposed to stop spreading of the infectious disease. The proposed model consists of six dependent variables, namely, susceptible population, infective population, isolated susceptible population who are aware of the undesirable consequences of the COVID-19, quarantined population of known infectives (symptomatic), recovered class, and the coronavirus population. The model exhibits two equilibria namely, the COVID-19-free equilibrium and the COVID-19-endemic equilibrium. It is observed that if basic reproduction number R 0 < 1 {R}_{0}\lt 1 , then the COVID-19-free equilibrium is locally asymptotically stable. However, the endemic equilibrium is locally as well as nonlinearly asymptotically stable under certain conditions if R 0 > 1 {R}_{0}\gt 1 . Model analysis shows that if safety measures are adopted by way of isolation of susceptibles and quarantine of infectives, the spread of COVID-19 disease can be kept under control.