A simple and efficient model for epidemic control on multiplex networks

The real epidemic spreading has generally two different types of transmission routes. One is the random anonymous infection and the other one is the transmission through regular and fixed contacts. If the infectious disease has high mortality and there is no available vaccine or medicine, then many health authorities rely on the non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) along the traceable fixed contacts, such as isolation of the infected. In our study, such realistic situations are implemented by the susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) model with isolation on multiplex networks. The multiplex networks are composed of random interaction layer and fixed interaction layer. We quantitatively compare the efficiency of two isolation protocols imposed on the SIR dynamics. One of them is the most popular protocol adopted by many health organizations over the globe. From the numerical simulations we find that the isolation of the second nearest neighbors of the hospitalized individuals on the layer for regular and fixed contacts significantly reduces both the final epidemic size and the number of the isolated per unit time. Our finding suggests a better NPI for any type of epidemic even though the contact tracing is only partially available.