Optimal control of a reaction-diffusion model related to the spread of COVID-19

This paper is concerned with the well-posedness and optimal control problem of a reaction-diffusion system for an epidemic susceptible-exposed-infected-recovered-susceptible mathematical model in which the dynamics develops in a spatially heterogeneous environment. Using as control variables the transmission rates u(e) and u(i )of contagion resulting from the contact with both asymptomatic and symptomatic persons, respectively, we optimize the number of exposed and infected individuals at a final time T of the controlled evolution of the system. More precisely, we search for the optimal u(i) and u(e) such that the number of infected plus exposed does not exceed at the final time a threshold value Lambda, fixed a priori. We prove here the existence of optimal controls in a proper functional framework and we derive the first-order necessary optimality conditions in terms of the adjoint variables.