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Optimal Control: Application and Applicability in Times of Pandemics

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Integrated Science of Global Epidemics

Part of the book series: Integrated Science ((IS,volume 14))

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Summary

In times of pandemics, researchers hurry to find the best control policy to limit the spread of a disease and its consequences on the health care and economic sectors. To reach a reasonable control strategy, it is becoming more important than ever to rapidly detect the geographical extent of a global epidemic and/or infodemic and analyze all means of interconnections and intra-connections that exist and develop between and within different regions; otherwise, some would wonder whether the classical epidemiological methods are still really able to resist to the complications due to the continuous evolution of networks, or their development is urgently needed? In this context, spatiotemporal control systems would represent some of the suitable frameworks to start with to help in international health decision-making seriously. Based on the most recent research in control modeling of epidemics, this chapter answers the two questions: How to effectively apply control at a large geographical scale, and what applicable control is convincingly possible to follow in times of global epidemics crises? This chapter also reviews an example of the most recently developed model for the COVID-19 pandemic, which aims to guide the reopening strategies of an area with low domestic epidemic risk amid the danger of importing cases from other areas. After all, the chapter concludes that many problems could hinder the effect of different types of control regardless of any approach, as in the end and at times of race between viruses mutation or variation and vaccines research, there would be a need to prioritize a redesign of the health education systems before taking further steps in future.

Graphical Abstract/Art Performance

An illustration renders a sad girl with a hand sanitizer, mask, soap, and thermometer surrounding her. She is also surrounded by Mercury, Uranus, Saturn, and Mars.

(Adapted with permission from the Health and Art (HEART), Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN); Painting by Zahra Hassan Alhiki)

Optimal control of an epidemic

The code of this chapter is 01101111 01,110,100 01,101,110 01,101,100 01,110,010 01,000,011 01,101,111.

All that is not perfect down to the smallest detail is doomed to perish.

Gustav Mahler

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Mathematics, Computer Science and Communication Systems (MISCOM), National School of Applied Sciences-Safi (ENSA-S), Safi, Morocco

    Ilias Elmouki & Abdelilah Jraifi

  2. Department of Economics, Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, Beijing, China

    Ling Zhong

  3. Department of Computer Science, FST, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakesh, Morocco

    Aziz Darouichi

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  1. Ilias Elmouki
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  2. Ling Zhong
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  3. Abdelilah Jraifi
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  4. Aziz Darouichi
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Correspondence to Ilias Elmouki .

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  1. Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Stockholm, Sweden

    Nima Rezaei

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Elmouki, I., Zhong, L., Jraifi, A., Darouichi, A. (2023). Optimal Control: Application and Applicability in Times of Pandemics. In: Rezaei, N. (eds) Integrated Science of Global Epidemics. Integrated Science, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-17778-1_9

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