On the spread of SARS-CoV-2 under quarantine: A study based on probabilistic cellular automaton

Currently, SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) is a major worldwide public-health problem. Here, its propagation is modeled by using a probabilistic cellular automaton (PCA). In this model, sick individuals can either remain asymptomatic during the infection or become symptomatic. In order to derive an analytical expression for the basic reproduction number [Formula: see text] a mean-field approximation written in terms of ordinary differential equations (ODE) is proposed and analyzed. By considering time-constant and time-varying parameters in both approaches (PCA and ODE), numerical simulations are performed in order to evaluate the impact of distinct quarantine regimes on the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.