The impact of media coverage with a piecewise transmission rate in the spread of diseases

Abstract

A three-dimensional compartmental model with media coverage is proposed to describe the real characteristics of its impact in the spread of infectious diseases in a given region. A piecewise continuous transmission rate is introduced to describe that media coverage exhibits its effect only when the number of the infected exceeds a certain critical level. Further, it is assumed that the impact of media coverage on the contact transmission is described by an exponential decreasing factor. Stability analysis of the model shows that the disease-free equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable if the basic reproduction number is less than unity. On the other hand, when the basic reproduction number is greater than unity and media coverage impact is sufficiently small, a unique endemic equilibrium exists, which is globally asymptotically stable.