| dc.description.abstract | Corona-virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease that has affected different groups of humankind
such as farmers, soldiers, drivers, educators, students, healthcare workers and many others. The transmission
rate of the disease varies from one group to another depending on the contact rate. Healthcare workers are
at a high risk of contracting the disease due to the high contact rate with patients. So far, there exists no
mathematical model which combines both public control measures (as a parameter) and healthcare workers
(as an independent compartment). Combining these two in a given mathematical model is very important
because healthcare workers are protected through effective use of personal protective equipment, and control
measures help to minimize the spread of COVID-19 in the community. This paper presents a mathematical
model named SWE 𝐼𝑠
𝐼𝑎HR; susceptible individuals (S), healthcare workers (W), exposed (E), symptomatic
infectious (𝐼𝑠
), asymptomatic infectious (𝐼𝑎
), hospitalized (H), recovered (R). The value of basic reproduction
number 𝑅0
for all parameters in this study is 2.8540. In the absence of personal protective equipment 𝜉 and
control measure in the public 𝜃, the value of 𝑅0 ≈ 4.6047 which implies the presence of the disease. When 𝜃
and 𝜉 were introduced in the model, basic reproduction number is reduced to 0.4606, indicating the absence
of disease in the community. Numerical solutions are simulated by using Runge–Kutta fourth-order method.
Sensitivity analysis is performed to presents the most significant parameter. Furthermore, identifiability of
model parameters is done using the least square method. The results indicated that protection of healthcare
workers can be achieved through effective use of personal protective equipment by healthcare workers and
minimization of transmission of COVID-19 in the general public by the implementation of control measures.
Generally, this paper emphasizes the importance of using protective measures. | en_US |
