Projections and fractional dynamics of COVID-19 with optimal control strategies

When the entire world is eagerly waiting for a safe, effective and widely available COVID-19 vaccine, unprecedented spikes of new cases are evident in numerous countries. To gain a deeper understanding about the future dynamics of COVID-19, a compartmental mathematical model has been proposed in this paper incorporating all possible non-pharmaceutical intervention strategies. Model parameters have been calibrated using sophisticated trust-region-reflective algorithm and short-term projection results have been illustrated for Bangladesh and India. Control reproduction numbers [Formula: see text] have been calculated in order to get insights about the current epidemic scenario in the above-mentioned countries. Forecasting results depict that the aforesaid countries are having downward trends in daily COVID-19 cases. Nevertheless, as the pandemic is not over in any country, it is highly recommended to use efficacious face coverings and maintain strict physical distancing in public gatherings. All necessary graphical simulations have been performed with the help of Caputo–Fabrizio fractional derivatives. In addition, optimal control strategies for fractional system have been designed and the existence of unique solution has also been showed using Picard–Lindelof technique. Finally, unconditional stability of the fractional numerical technique has been proved.