Estimation and optimal control of the multiscale dynamics of Covid-19: a case study from Cameroon

This work aims at a better understanding and the optimal control of the spread of the new severe acute respiratory corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). We first propose a multi-scale model giving insights on the virus population dynamics, the transmission process and the infection mechanism. We consider 10 compartments in the human population in order to take into accounts the effects of different specific mitigation policies. The population of viruses is also partitioned into 10 compartments corresponding respectively to each of the first nine human population compartments and the free viruses available in the environment. We show the global stability of the disease free equilibrium if a given threshold T0 is less or equal to 1 and we provide how to compute the basic reproduction number R0. A convergence index T1 is also defined in order to estimate the speed at which the disease extincts and an upper bound to the time of extinction is given. The existence of the endemic equilibrium is conditional and its description is provided. We evaluate the sensitivity of R0, T0 and T1 to control parameters such as the maximal human density allowed per unit of surface, the rate of disinfection both for people and environment, the mobility probability, the wearing mask probability or efficiency, and the human to human contact rate which results from the previous one. According to a functional cost taking into consideration economic impacts of SARS-CoV-2, we determine and discuss optimal fighting strategies. The study is applied to available data from Cameroon.