Schematic diagram of the ABM.

(A) The human hepatocytes can be only in one of the following three phases at a given time; T = uninfected cells which are termed as target or susceptible cells, IE = HBV-Infected cells in eclipse phase (i.e., not yet releasing virions), IP = productively HBV-infected cells (i.e., actively releasing virions). The free virus in blood, V, is composed of infectious and non-infections virions. The parameter ρ represents the fraction of virions that are infectious, β represents the infection rate constant, Ω represents eclipse phase duration, c, represents viral clearance from blood and P(τ) (Eq 1) represents virion secretion from IP. (B) Schematic diagram of viral production cycle for an individual infected human hepatocyte. P(τ) is the number of virions produced by an infected cell, and l(τ)) is the time interval between production cycle (h). The virions were initially released by IP starting with a long production cycle of 1 virion per cell (Stage 1: ~0–2.5 days) that gradually reaches a production of 2 virions per cell with a shorten production cycle (Stage 2: ~2.5–3 days) and then proceeds to 3 virions per cell (Stage 3: ~3–4 days) before virion production increases to reach to a steady state production rate of 4 virions per hour per cell (Stage 4: ~ 4 days onwards).