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Abstract We deal in this paper with a diffusive SIR epidemic model described by reaction–diffusion equations involving a fractional derivative. The existence and uniqueness of the solution are shown, next to the boundedness of the solution. Further, it has been shown that the global behavior of the solution is governed by the value of $$R_0$$ R 0 , which is known in epidemiology by the basic reproduction number. Indeed, using the Lyapunov direct method it has been proved that the disease will extinct for $$ R_0 <1 $$ R 0 < 1 for any value of the diffusion constants. For $$R_0>1$$ R 0 > 1 , the disease will persist and the unique positive equilibrium is globally stable. Some numerical illustrations have been used to confirm our theoretical results.