Mathematical analysis of a within-host model of SARS-CoV-2

Abstract

In this paper, we have mathematically analyzed a within-host model of SARS-CoV-2 which is used by Li et al. in the paper “The within-host viral kinetics of SARS-CoV-2” published in (Math. Biosci. Eng. 17(4):2853–2861, 2020). Important properties of the model, like nonnegativity of solutions and their boundedness, are established. Also, we have calculated the basic reproduction number which is an important parameter in the infection models. From stability analysis of the model, it is found that stability of the biologically feasible steady states are determined by the basic reproduction number (χ). Numerical simulations are done in order to substantiate analytical results. A biological implication from this study is that a COVID-19 patient with less than one basic reproduction ratio can automatically recover from the infection.